The Ruined Balance
by heiwakarakurenai
Summary: Having witnessed Heiji and Momiji kissing, the heartbroken Kazuha fled to Tokyo. But instead of confiding in Ran as always, this time she chose to confide in Shinichi, who she believed could better advise her from a man's perspective. Would this decision on-the-fly ruin the current balance among the 4 friends? Would a new balance emerge? Please R&R!
1. Ch1: Unexpected Kiss & Unexpected Visit

**Chapter 1: An Unexpected Kiss and An Unexpected Visit**

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 **Disclaimer: I don't own any Detective Conan/Case Closed characters.**

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 **Warning and spoiler: there will be some smutty contents in later chapters. Stop reading if you don't feel comfortable.**

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Toyama Kazuha, holding a large envelope in her hand, was sweating.

She was looking for Hattori Heiji, aka, her best friend and also, the famous Detective of the West.

God knew how long she has been in love with this dark-skinned, well-built, tall, and handsome boy. For years, she couldn't help but wonder:

 _Does he feel the same about_ _me?_

She gathered her courage to confess her love to him once. But it did not go so well …

Practically speaking, he didn't even hear her confession part because he ran away, over-excited to gossip with his best buddy Kudo Shinichi.

She sort of sensed, or maybe it was just her vague hope, that he might want to confess to her in quite a few occasions. However, needless to say, none of these suspicions transpired.

So here they were, still at the status quo, aka, still childhood friends. Well, he did call her his "cute little sister" once. But beyond that, there was nothing more.

It was early April, and they have just started their last academic year in high school.

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In the envelope she was holding, was the admission letter from Harvard University.

She had no intention to leave Japan, of course. But her child-less aunt living in Boston, who had adored her since her birth, hoped Kazuha could accompany her in America for a few years and hence applied to Harvard on her behalf. It was not like Kazuha was totally oblivious of this application. She had to take the SAT, write her statement, ask her teachers to write her recommendations, etc. But she did this under the pressure of her parents and her aunt. It was a just a try, she thought, because she would never be accepted by Harvard.

But yesterday she received the acceptance letter from Harvard. What a surprise. Her parents, who were currently visiting her aunt in America, were so excited that they kept congratulating their smart, accomplished daughter for hours over the phone. Apparently, the American universities have a different schedule than the Japanese system. School year starts in September, which means if she would go, she would leave Japan in merely 5 months, even before her last high school semester started.

But should she go?

The problem here was Hattori Heiji.

Deep in her heart, Kazuha did not want to leave Japan. She wanted to stay by the side of Heiji like they had always been in the past 17 years. Honestly, she still had trouble to envision a life without this dark-skinned boy.

However, if they were not in a real relationship, then what's the point of staying by his side? He would not need a childhood friend to tag him along all the time. Actually, he openly expressed his annoyance about her tagging along in quite a few occasions.

Maybe this was her last chance to find out if there is something deeper between them, deeper than the bond of sibling-like childhood friends.

Today she wanted tell him everything, about her love for him, about how long she had loved him more than a childhood friend. If, just if, that he had the mutual feelings for her as well, maybe he would ask her to stay. And if he did, she would say yes. No question about it.

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Kazuha made up her mind and started searching for the dark-skinned boy on the campus of Kaihou High School.

For no obvious reason, she could always find him without much trouble, a fact that annoyed him sometimes as he claimed that he needed privacy. This time, like always, it did not take her long when she saw the boy standing under the big cherry tree near the gym.

This cherry tree was the most popular spot for love confessions in Kaihou High. Kazuha could feel her heart racing when she spotted Heiji's profile under the cherry tree.

It was a sign. She told herself. It was a sign that today's the day of her confession.

She paused a bit, tightened her fists as if to muster courage, and then walked up to the cherry tree.

"Hei …"

Before she could speak out his name, she realized that there was another figure under the cherry tree, right in front of Heiji.

A beautifully curved female figure. Face to Face with Heiji.

It was not hard for Kazuha to figure out that this curvy figure belonged to Ooka Momiji, aka, the rich, beautiful, voluptuous girl from Kyoto who claimed to be Heiji's "fiancé."

Of course, the "fiancé" thing turned out to be a pure misunderstanding. Momiji misheard Heiji when they were little and she took it as a proposal. Kazuha was quite relieved then when she heard Heiji's explanation.

But why was she here? Shouldn't she be in Kyoto? Shouldn't she have already given up on Heiji, after Heiji told her that what she had believed about the "fiancé" promise was merely a misunderstanding?

Kazuha's was confused and she paused her steps. A few seconds later, before she could even start to clear her mind of all the confusions, her heart stopped beating.

 _They were kissing._

Yes, Hattori Heiji and Ooka Momiji were kissing.

Because of the sun, Kazuha could not see them very clearly. Actually, she could only make out two dark figures against the bright background of sun. But the profiles were clearly discernable.

Yes, these two were kissing.

She felt blood pumping to her head, and in no time warm liquid filled her eyes.

"Ahou …." She crumbled the envelope in her hand and ran away.

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Kazuha wanted to get away. Away from all these.

What a stupid ahou she had been all along? Why was she so stupid to even having the hope of Heiji might love her back and stop her from going to America?

Before she knew it, she already hopped on the Shinkansen train to Tokyo.

"Ran-chan …" She murmured the name of her best friend in Tokyo.

Mouri Ran had always been optimistic about Kazuha's relationship with Heiji. She had done numerous things to help them to be a couple and Kazuha couldn't be more grateful.

Now she was shattered, she wanted to share everything with Ran like she always did.

 _But, wait …_

Like always, when she ran to Tokyo to confide in Ran, in no time either Heiji would call Ran to ask where she was, or Ran would call Heiji to tell him Kazuha was with there, and her whereabout would be totally exposed. After all, there were not too many places she could go to and he knew all of them. And without fail, Ran would force her to talk to Heiji on the phone and she would hear dozens of "ahou" from her childhood friend. In the next few hours she would be back in Osaka again.

But this time, Kazuha really did not want Heiji to find her.

Her heart was broken. She needed time and distance away from Heiji to heal. It would not help if she saw him in a few hours and they started another fight about the kiss she just witnessed.

Where could she go, now that she was already on the train to Tokyo?

Sonoko?

No, she would tell Ran in 5 seconds and Ran would tell Heiji in another 5 seconds.

Who else did she know in Tokyo?

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"Bye Ran. Thank you for the delicious dinner. So, have a good night …" Kudo Shinichi gave his beautiful girlfriend a clumsy hug before he walked out of her home. It is almost dark now, and just started to rain really heavily.

After he regained his adult body, he was still quite clumsy with his girlfriend. He was still very embarrassed with all the intimate, accidental touches he had with Ran when he was stuck in the 7-year old Conan's body. Now that he is a fully grown 17-year old boy, he felt quite shy to hug her. They shared a few butterfly kisses on the cheeks occasionally, but not much more than that. Ran was a shy girl as well, and she was perfectly fine to take their relationship slowly.

"Good night Shinichi." Said Ran with her signature gentle smile, "Don't get too wet." She handed an umbrella to her boyfriend.

Shinichi smiled back at her, and waved her goodbye.

It was really raining hard. But fortunately, it was only a few minutes' walk from Ran's home to his.

When he arrived the gate of the Kudo mansion, he was surprised to see a figure standing in the rain, standing right in front his house.

A slender figure with a ponytail.

"… Kazuha-chan?" Shinichi was truly surprised to see Kazuha, especially when he noticed that his best friend, the dark-skinned Detective of the West, was not there with her.

"Why are you here, Kazuha-chan? Where is Hattori?" Shinichi quickly walked over to Kazuha and put the umbrella over her. But apparently this girl had been standing here for a while, since she was completely drenched.

"Heiji is not here. It's just me …" Kazuha replied, lowering her head.

Shinichi thought she was crying. But he was not completely sure since raindrops were also running wildly down her porcelain like face.

"Kazuha-chan, so you are looking for Ran right?" Shinichi asked gently, "Come with me, I will walk you to her home."

Kazuha shook her head, finally raising her head to look at Shinichi, "I am looking for you, Kudo-kun."

"Me?" Shinichi was perplexed. And now he could see clearly that Kazuha was crying, with tears forming in her beautiful emerald eyes and rolling down her face, mixed with the raindrops.

"Yes …" Kazuha's voice sounded heart-breaking, "and please … don't tell Heiji or Ran-chan I am here …"

Shinichi was speechless for a few seconds. He had no idea why Kazuha was looking for him instead of Ran. Kazuha had always been close to Ran. Well, when he was still Conan, he and Kazuha was on good terms, but it never occurred to neither of them that they actually didn't know each other that well.

"… Whatever, let's go inside then. You are soaked and need to change." Shinichi sighed, deciding to ask Kazuha later before the girl caught a cold. He grabbed her wrist and together they walked into the Kudo mansion.

 _ **To be continued ...**_

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 **So what do you think so far? It is very hard to write a story about an unlikely couple. Although I am a BIG fan of Heiji x Kazuha, I am also not against trying something new occasionally.**

 **I started thinking about this story when I thought about the relationships of the parents' generation in DC. Kogoro and Eri are the only childhood-friends-turned-married-couple in DC. They undoubtedly love each other and care about each other deeply, but they cannot get along. Isn't it in some way similar to Heiji and Kazuha's relationship? Although we find HeiKazu's bickering hilarious, in real life, if those kinds of bickering continue into the real married life, it could be consuming and even devastating. Heiji's possessiveness of Kazuha is incredibly cute in the story, but again, it would be a kill in an actual marriage.**

 **The two happily married couples in DC are Heizo X Shizuka and Yusaku X Yukiko. It is not hard to imagine that Shinichi growing up to be a person like his father, romantic and gentlemanlike. And Kazuha, more than Ran, resembles Yukiko. In real life, man and woman like Shinichi and Kazuha could actually make a lasting married couple. So here comes this crazy story.**

 **And of course, this is just an imaginary AU that will fortunately never take place in DC :) We know the bonds between Shin-Ran and Hei-Kazu are unbreakable :)**

 **Please review!**


	2. Chapter 2: A Heart-to-Heart Conversation

**Chapter 2: A Heart-to-Heart Conversation Between Two Unlikely Friends**

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 **Disclaimer: I don't own any Detective Conan/Case Closed characters.**

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 **So what do you think? Anything completely out of character so far? Please review!**

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Kazuha silently followed Shinichi to his house.

While Shinichi was busy looking for changing clothes from his mother's wardrobe and setting up a hot bath for her, Kazuha's mind was still in Osaka, preoccupied by her dear childhood friend.

After going through various possibilities on the train to Tokyo, Kazuha finally decided that Kudo's house was her best hideout. Heiji would not have guessed that. And she knew, from Kudo's experience pretending to be Conan for so long without Ran noticing, that Kudo could be a really good liar if he wanted to.

Also, after all, Kudo was Heiji's best friend and they were alike in every little way. Although she told herself that she should give up on Heiji now after witnessing the kiss he had shared with Momiji, she still held some faint hope deep in her heart. She really wanted to read Heiji's mind, but she couldn't. Although they had grown up together and had practically spent almost every day together, she felt she did not know her childhood friend at all.

She knew Kudo and Heiji were incredibly close and alike. She wanted find out more about what Heiji was really thinking from Kudo's perspective.

"Kazuha-chan!" Shinichi called her from upstairs after the bath was all set up. "The bath is ready. I also found you some dry clothes. They are my mom's and should fit you."

Kazuha looked at this pale-skinned boy, who was as handsome as her dark-skinned friend. She squeezed out a polite smile and silently walked upstairs to the bathroom.

"What she's doing here without Hattori …" Shinichi grumbles, as he had not yet heard a single word from Kazuha after she had entered his home. But he, as a shrewd detective, could not have missed the overwhelming sadness in her beautiful emerald eyes. In his impression, Kazuha had always been energetic, loud, and upbeat. Now thinking about it, he actually quite enjoyed Kazuha's presence ever since he was Conan. She and Heiji really made a hilarious couple whose fights and arguments never failed to amuse everybody around them. He could not help laughing when he recalled the multiple times that Heiji failed to confess to Kazuha.

"What are you laughing about?"

Shinichi turned back, and saw Kazuha had come out of the bath, wearing a beautiful red dress that belonged to his mom. "It really fits her." He thought to himself. Her mom, the famous actress Kudo Yukiko, had a nice figure and liked cute clothes. Thinking about that, Kazuha and his mom were alike in many ways …

"Nothing major …" Shinichi felt a bit embarrassed to make the connection between Kazuha and his mom, even though it was only in his mind. He scratched his head, "I was just thinking about you and Hattori …"

He paused when he saw Kazuha's eyes instantly turns cloudy at the word "Hattori."

Kazuha sighed, and walked to the couch that Shinichi was sitting on. She sat down, and looked Shinichi into his eyes, making him a little uncomfortable.

"Kudo-kun, may I ask you a question?"

Shinichi nodded, wondering where the conversation was heading.

"Kudo-kun … when did you find out that your feeling for Ran-chan is actually more than your childhood friend or a little sister?" She looked at Shinichi, really curious and almost begging him for the answer.

"I …" Shinichi felt embarrassed about this question. He only told Hattori about it before when they were in Kyoto a while back. He had not even told Ran. But now looking at Kazuha's begging eyes, he felt compelled to share his little secret with her.

"Ok, Kazuha-chan, I will tell you." He smiled at Kazuha, and pleased to see some sparkles in her eyes.

"Etto … It was probably two years ago, once I totally forgot about that Ran and I were to have dinner that night. When I finally remembered it was already several hours later. I felt really guilty, and ran as fast as I could to our meeting place. Although I was telling myself she must be furious with me and must have already left, and I was praying that she would not beat me up with her karate …" He scratched his head, laughing with apparent embarrassment.

"And then?" Kazuha was into the story. Well, the same thing had happened between Heiji and herself countless times, with her always waiting for Heiji who always forgot about her when he ran into cases.

"Then … I was really surprised and felt really guilty when I saw Ran was still there waiting for me …" Shinichi's eyes softened, "And she smiled at me, truly sincerely, and said, 'that's great Shinichi, you are ok! I was worried that you might got into some kind of trouble.' …"

"Oh …" Kazuha's eyes opened widely, "That is so Ran-chan … she is always so gentle, so understanding, unlike me …" She sighed.

"You know, Kudo-kun, if it was me, I would call Heiji 'ahou' a thousand times and use my Aikido to beat him up …" She lowered her head in frustration.

 _That is why._ Kazuha thought to herself. That is why Kudo and Ran-chan could become lovers but Heiji and she could not. Of course, Heiji would never like a violent girl like herself. He was already nice enough to put up with her for so long because they were childhood friends …

"Kazuha-chan, is it why you are here tonight? To ask me about Ran and I?" Shinichi, from Kazuha's question, already guessed that Kazuha was comparing herself and Heiji with Ran and him. It really did not take a famous detective to figure out that something troubling must have happened between the Kansai couple that this girl wanted to ask for his advice.

Shinichi's question interrupted Kazuha's self-reflections.

"Kudo-kun …" Kazuha closed her eyes. The cherry tree, Heiji, Momiji, and the kiss, all came up to her mind. New tears started to roll down her face.

"Kazuha-chan …" Shinichi was a little bit frightened by the tears of Kazuha. He knew that Kazuha's cry could be really loud. But today, she made no high-pitched screaming sound, just sobbing quietly.

This was the first time that Shinichi had the opportunity to take his time and look at Kazuha carefully. Before, she was always with Heiji, or with Ran, except for the brief time that he tried to rescue her from the Gyokuryu Temple in Kyoto, he and Kazuha literally had no opportunity to have any alone time. Of course, none of them felt that was an issue that need to be addressed. Shinichi had Ran, and Kazuha had Heiji. Although for a long time Shinichi and Ran were not officially dating, although Kazuha and Heiji were still not officially dating even now, they all understood the proper balance among the four of them.

And in Shinichi's eyes … Kazuha was a really pretty girl. Her hair was now down, without her signature ponytail, and also wet from the bath she just took. She was different from Ran. Her face was rounder, and her eyes were emerald while Ran's were sapphire. Like Heiji said before, Kazuha truly looked like a super cute little sister, even though she was actually several months older than Heiji.

Also, like what he had already observed, his mom's red dress really complimented Kazuha's nice figure. She was slim but strong, given her rigorous Aikido training. She also had a nice curve that made her fit perfectly into his mom's dress — Don't forget his mom used to be Japan's no.1 actress.

Yes, Kazuha and his mom really shared quite some similarities. The Kazuha in Shinichi's impression always had this aura of high spirit around her that in whatever circumstance people wouldn't fail to notice this was a super jovial girl. Just like his mom.

" … Kazuha-chan." Shinichi finally decided he could not bear the silence anymore and broke out the question, "I know there must be something wrong between you and Hattori, and that was why you are here, right? Can you tell me what happened? Trust me, I can beat him up if he mistreated you in anyway." He waved his fist and smirked at her.

A little bit of smile appeared on Kazuha's face, which was quite to Shinichi's delight. But the smile soon disappeared with more tears rolling down from her eyes.

"… Kudo-kun, I am sorry for bothering you tonight …" Kazuha swallowed some tears that flowed into her mouth, and started talking.

"You see, I am here because I don't want Heiji to find me, and I know you are quite good at lying …"

"Kazuha-chan …" Shinichi's eyes turned half-moon. What does this girl want to say? She came to his house to call him a liar?

Kazuha saw Shinichi's expression and realized that what she said did not sound polite at all. She became quite embarrassed and her face became as red as a tomato. "Sorry Kudo-kun! I don't mean it in any negative way! I just want to say that you did a really good job covering your real identity as Conan-kun so I thought you could probably help me to hide my whereabout from Heiji …"

Seeing her uneasiness, Shinichi sighed and decided to let it go, "It is Ok, Kazuha-chan. I know what you mean." Actually, thinking about it, he was not that upset, but instead quite amused to see Kazuha's face becoming so red. "Sure, I will cover you up from Hattori. But … Kazuha-chan, you are really not yourself today. You are the world's most high-spirited girl in my impression. But today I can hardly recognize you!"

"Sorry …" Kazuha lowered her eyelids, with more tears rolling down. "You see, Heiji and I …Well .." She wondered where should she start with, "you know … I am accepted by Harvard …"

"Really?" Shinichi couldn't believe his ears, "You applied to Harvard? And got accepted?"

Kazuha was surprised by Shinichi's response, "Yes … but Shinichi, I am not here to discuss with you about my Harvard admission."

"Ah, right …" Shinichi scratched his head, quite embarrassed, "anyway, congratulations for being accepted by Harvard … not everyone can do that, you know?"

Shinichi didn't want to tell Kazuha that he was actually envious of her, because he, Kudo Shinichi, had also applied for Harvard but hadn't received the admission yet. His parents really wanted him to have an American college education. But he didn't want to leave Ran. However, under the pressure of his parents he applied for Harvard, half-heartedly. He didn't tell Ran, of course.

Not that he really wanted to go to Harvard, but his ego was hurt when he was not yet accepted. In the ideal scenario, he would get the admission and declare he would give it up out of love of Ran. But now that he heard Kazuha had already received the admission while he himself had not, his ego got really hurt.

"That is not the point, Kudo-kun." Kazuha frowned, appearing to be a bit annoyed that Shinichi is still focused on Stanford.

"Hey, that's not fair Kazuha-chan!" Shinichi became annoyed as well, "You are the one who brought up Harvard! How come you blame me for not to the point? Ahou!"

Kazuha's mouth opened wide when she heard "ahou" from Shinichi, but then she gathered her thoughts and started chuckle, "Kudo-kun, you really sound Heiji now, calling me 'ahou.'"

Shinichi realized what he said was totally out of character. Does this girl have some magic that can turn people around her into ahou-calling ahou instantly?

"Alright, Kudo-kun na ahou …" Kazuha continued chuckling until she realized she hasn't even started telling Shinichi what had happened today.

"Sorry, my bad …" She looked at Shinichi with an apologizing look, and continued, "I am quite ambivalent about the admission. Of course I am happy that I am accepted by one of the world's best universities, but that also means that I will say goodbye to Heiji for four years …"

"That's right …" Shinichi nodded, understandingly. He had exactly the same thought about Ran. There was no way he would go while keep Ran waiting for another four years. She had already waited for him for too long.

"But, Kudo-kun," Kazuha bit her lips, her eyes darkened, "… Kudo-kun … I really love Heiji …"

Shinichi gasped. Although he had long known about the Kansai couple's feelings about each other, he was definitely not prepared to hear Kazuha's love confession to Heiji at this moment. He felt quite ambivalent now.

On the one hand, he was happy that the feelings between Heiji and Kazuha were mutual. He knew his dark-skinned buddy loved this girl. After all, he had witnessed how many times Heiji risked his life to save Kazuha, probably as many times as he, Kudo Shinichi, had risked his own life to save Ran. In light of that, it was assuring to hear that Kazuha also loved his best buddy just as much.

However, on the other hand, Shinichi felt really embarrassed that he, instead of Heiji, heard this lovely confession. He really hoped his idiot buddy could be here to hear what this beautiful girl just said. Now that he had heard it, how should he respond? Congratulations?

Shinichi felt really troubled now. Should he tell her that Hattori was really going to confess to her in multiple occasions but somehow got all screwed up? But did he have the right to do that? It was Hattori's confession after all, and he knew how Hattori cared about picking the right moment and the right place to confess. He, as Hattori's best friend, could not spoil his plan, even though he had no idea what was Hattori's most recent plan for the time being.

But him being him, the smart Detective of the East, Shinichi quickly figured out by following Kazuha's train of thought, "Kazuha-chan, I see. So you want Hattori to make this decision for you - If he feels the same way about you, you will decline the Harvard admission and stay with him in Japan. But if otherwise …" Well, he didn't have the heart to say "otherwise," and he also had the confidence there was such "otherwise."

"You are smart …" Kazuha smiled, feeling she has made the right decision to come to talk to Shinichi, as he really had a clue, unlike that ahou Heiji.

"So you went to confess to Heiji?" Shinichi gave Kazuha a naughty wink, feeling totally relieved by assuming that Hattori heard Kazuha's confession before he did. So in that case, there was no burden for him to carry on behalf of his best friend.

But soon his smile froze … Wait, so she did confess to Heiji, but now she is here, in his house, thousands of miles away from Osaka, crying …

Did that idiot screw up? How could he screw up? Shinichi felt perplexed and angry.

Well, knowing Hattori being Hattori, Shinichi felt his idiot friend could never fail to be even more ahou when it comes to his love life …

Meanwhile, Kazuha's eyes were filled with even more tears. She tried to hold the tears back so she could speak, "right … I was about to confess, but I saw him and Momiji-san …"

"Momiji-san?" Shinichi was startled, "You mean that arrogant girl from Kyoto?" _Damn, how come Momiji is involved?_ Shinichi had the uneasy feeling about where Kazuha's story was going.

Kazuha nodded, let out a long sigh, and finally said what she really didn't want to say,

 _"I saw them kissing …"_

"What?" Shinichi couldn't believe what he just heard. He couldn't believe that Heiji would kiss any girl other than Kazuha, just like him, Kudo Shinichi, would never kiss any girl other than Ran … well, they had not really kissed so far … Ok, that's off topic, the focus here was, _something must be wrong_.

"Kazuha-chan, I think there must be some misunderstanding about the kiss that you saw …" He decided to spoke up on behalf of his buddy, "I am sure what you saw must be a misunderstanding. I am sure Hattori has an explanation …"

"He always has an explanation, didn't he?" Kazuha looked at Shinichi into his eyes. Shinichi shivered at her gaze, as if she was accusing himself instead of Heiji.

Kazuha sighed, "Like the time when he said my ponytail made him itchy, like the time when he denied saying 'my Kazuha,' like the time he told me about the nonsense of porridge tastes better with eggs …" She paused a bit and sighed again, "I don't want to hear his explanation any more …"

"…" Shinichi opened his mouth, trying to say something for Heiji, but was completely out of words. If it was Ran who saw him kissing another girl, would Ran want to hear him explaining? Well … that's not going to happen anyway. He would not kiss another girl so this scenario was entirely imaginary.

Shinichi felt quite angry with Heiji. Whatever the explanation is, which he was really curious to find out now, he could not help but to curse his idiotic friend.

Hattori, how come you screwed up so badly? Shinichi shook his head, helplessly.

"Well, what do I have to compete with Momiji-san …" Kazuha sighed. "She is beautiful, rich, and … don't you boys all like girls with big boobs like her?"

"That's not true." Shinichi protested, "Yes Momiji-san has big boobs, but hers are too big to make the sight actually attractive. Trust me, boys like your type of boobs better, just the right shape and size …"

"Ah?" Kazuha couldn't believe what she just heard.

"Ah?" Shinichi couldn't believe what he just said.

Well, he knew exactly how Kazuha's breasts felt like because he, of course back in Conan's form, touched them for a good minute when they met for the very first time in Osaka. Kazuha, at that time mistaking Ran as the woman named "Kudo" who obviously spent way too much time with Heiji than she would like to see, did not notice the little boy sitting between Ran and herself when she leaned closer and closed to Ran while talking to her. Well, it was at that awkward moment that Conan's innocent hands rested right on the breasts of Kazuha, whose body was looming over the blushing little 7-year old. It was not his fault, of course, but somehow till now his hands still remembered the shape and feeling of her chest ...

"Etto … Kazuha-chan," Shinichi, fully embarrassed, tried to change the topic and run away from the scene, "you must be cold and thirsty. I will make some hot tea for you. Please wait a bit …" With that, he stood up and ran away. He also needed some space to process what he just heard. He really couldn't believe his love-struck friend could kiss another girl other than Kazuha. But …

* * *

When Shinichi came back with the tea tray, he found a soundly asleep Kazuha in the couch, her hair still wet, and tears still hang on her long, curly eyelashes.

"Ahou … Heiji …" She murmured in her dream.

Shinichi's heart softened when he heard Kazuha's dream talk. Finally, his heart was not as heavy as a moment ago, seeing the girl was not completely mad with his best friend.

He put down the tea tray and tried to wake her up, "Kazuha-chan, if you want to sleep, you better go to the bedroom. I already cleaned up a guest bedroom …"

After shaking Kazuha for five minutes without the girl showing the slightest possibility of waking up, Shinichi sighed. This girl was the dictionary definition of sleeping like a log.

Shinichi scratched his head, and finally decided to carry her to the bedroom. He bent down, picked her up in bridal style, and walked upstairs to the guest bedroom.

"Heiji …" Kazuha continued to murmur her childhood friend's name while her left cheek pressed close to Shinichi's chest. Shinichi suddenly felt some itchiness, maybe from the hot breadth she let out while murmuring Heiji's name.

After he put Kazuha on the bed, Shinichi found there was a big problem: Kazuha could not let go of his right arm!

"… Heiji … don't go …" She murmured, without opening her eyes, but tears continued to roll out of her eyes.

"Kazuha-chan …" Shinichi became quite nervous. Kazuha's hold was really tight and his arm was practically caught up between her soft breasts. Blushing like a tomato, he tried hard to retrieve his arm from her grasp, but this Aikido champion surely had very strong grip. What made it worse, when he attempted to move his trapped right arm in any direction, it ended up massaging Kazuha's breasts in one direction or another. And he could obviously feel that this girl was not wearing a bra …

Shinichi sighed with his fully reddened face. Of course, her bra must be still wet and hanging in the bathroom …

"… Heiji … don't go … I love you …" Kazuha was still murmuring, probably dreaming of an alternative universe when she confessed to Heiji in real life and received his love in return.

Shinichi gaze softened. He looked at Kazuha's crying, sleeping face. She's beautiful and tender. He thought to himself.

After staring at Kazuha's sleeping face for another five minutes or so and still could not pull out his right arm, Shinichi decided the only thing he could do was to sleep by her side. He felt quite embarrassed. He only slept by Ran's side while trapped in Conan's body. This was the first time he'd ever slept next to a grown-up girl of his age. He felt his body becoming hot, especially with his right arm still tightly trapped between the girls' soft and nicely shaped breasts.

Damn … Hattori … How could Hattori break the heart of such a precious girl? Had Kazuha not asked him keep her whereabout a secret from Hattori, he would have called Hattori right now and curse this idiot.

Well, as if Hattori was reading his mind thousands of miles away in Osaka, right at this moment, Shinichi's cell phone rang, and the caller ID is no one but Hattori Heiji.

"Hattori …" Shinichi looked at the wall clock, "It is 2 am …"

"Kudo!" Heiji's voice almost broke Shinichi's eardrum, "I cannot find Kazuha!"

Looking at the girl lying next to her who still grabbed his arm tightly but unconsciously, Shinichi shook his head, and sighed into the phone: "what happened to her, you idiot …"

Heiji sounds frantic, "She left school before school is finished without telling me! I have been calling her for hours but she is not answering! She is not home and her parents are in America. And I just called Nee-chan and Nee-chan said Kazuha didn't come to her, either! Do you know where she could have gone?"

Shinichi took a deep breath, "Hattori, listen. This is your woman you are talking about, not mine. What are you thinking to call me and ask me where is your woman?"

"She is not my woman!" Heiji denied without thinking. How can Kudo embarrass him now when he is so worried about Kazuha? But he realized that he actually liked the way Kudo put it "… you are right …" Heiji quieted down, "sorry bud, I am a bit … not myself when it comes to her …"

"I know, ahou." Shinichi sighed. "You know, Hattori … Please be nice to her. She deserves it." Without listening to the response from Heiji, he hung up the phone.

"Ah?" Heiji, hearing the dial tone in the phone, had no clue why Kudo said something like that.

Shinichi, meanwhile, tried to suppress the tingling in his stomach caused by the close contact of his right arm and Kazuha's breasts. Fortunately, there was still his sleeve and her dress in between, otherwise, he would not be able to sleep at all tonight. Shinichi managed to keep whatever that went wrong in his mind under control. After cursing Heiji for a few more times, he fell asleep as well.

To be continued ...

* * *

 **So what do you think so far? It is very hard to write a story about an unlikely couple. Although I am a BIG fan of Heiji x Kazuha, I am also not against trying something new occasionally.**

 **I started thinking about this story when I thought about the relationships of the parents' generation in DC. Kogoro and Eri are the only childhood-friends-turned-married-couple in DC. They undoubtedly love each other and care about each other deeply, but they cannot get along. Isn't it in some way similar to Heiji and Kazuha's relationship? Although we find HeiKazu's bickering hilarious, in real life, if those kinds of bickering continue into the real married life, it could be consuming and even devastating. Heiji's possessiveness of Kazuha is incredibly cute in the story, but again, it would be a kill in an actual marriage.**

 **The two happily married couples in DC are Heizo X Shizuka and Yusaku X Yukiko. It is not hard to imagine that Shinichi growing up to be a person like his father, romantic and gentlemanlike. And Kazuha, more than Ran, resembles Yukiko. In real life, man and woman like Shinichi and Kazuha could actually make a lasting married couple. So here comes this crazy story.**

 **And of course, this is just an imaginary AU that will fortunately never take place in DC :) We know the bonds between Shin-Ran and Hei-Kazu are unbreakable :)**

 **Please review!**


	3. Chapter 3: Soul-searching

**Chapter 3: Soul-searching**

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I don't own any Detective Conan or Case Closed characters.**

* * *

"Shinichi, where are you? You are not home…" It is a gentle but concerned voice.

"Ran!" Shinichi cursed himself when he received Ran's call, sitting on the Shinkansen train to Kyoto with Kazuha. Sure, Kazuha told him not tell Ran about her whereabout, but he should have remembered to tell Ran that he was out today. Now, his gentle girlfriend must be really worried about him.

"Ran, the fact is …" Shinichi was debating really hard if he should tell Ran. He looked at Kazuha, hoping Kazuha could give him a shake or a nod and he would just do whatever she wanted him to say.

However, Kazuha didn't even pay attention to him. Obviously she didn't notice that Shinichi was talking to Ran over the phone. She was staring outside of the window, obviously still thinking about her dark-skinned childhood friend.

A bit disappointed by Kazuha's absentmindedness, Shinichi sighed.

"Ran, the fact is … I need to go to Kyoto today."

"Kyoto?" Ran was surprised, "You never mentioned that you are going to Kyoto today. Is it a case?"

"No …" Shinichi didn't want to lie to Ran again. He felt really guilty to have lied to Ran so many times while being Conan. He didn't want to make "cases" his excuses again.

"No, Ran. It just a last-minute thing. I will be back soon." He quickly hung up the phone before Ran could ask another follow up question. He really didn't know what to tell Ran if she probed further.

 _I am sorry Ran … I am really worried about Kazuha-chan now … So please understand …_

"Shinichi?" Ran felt dejected that Shinichi hung up so quickly. She was actually about to tell him that Heiji called her last night about Kazuha. She worried about Kazuha and wanted to discuss with Shinichi want they could do to find her. But …

Ran sighed, and then text Heiji asking him to tell her as soon as he found Kazuha.

* * *

"Kazuha-chan, where is your ribbon?" After staring at Kazuha for a while, Shinichi suddenly realized why she looked a little bit different today.

"Ah?" Kazuha looked at her reflection in the window, and saw the absence of her signature ribbon on her ponytail. "I probably left it somewhere in your house …"

"It is ok," Shinichi smiled at her, "Let's buy you a new one in Kyoto."

So the first thing they did in Kyoto was to go into a shopping mall and pick up a hair ribbon for Kazuha. Shinichi picked a bright red ribbon that matched his mom's kawaii, bright red dress that Kazuha was currently wearing. Without further thought, he tied it on Kazuha's ponytail and made a bow, which looked much like the bowtie he used to wear when he was Conan.

Kazuha looked at the new hair ribbon on her ponytail in the mirror, the bright color suddenly cheered her up.

"How does it look on me?" Kazuha looked up at Shinichi with a bright, beaming smile.

Shinichi was amazed at her smile. This girl was amazing. He thought. It's amazing that she could be so high-spirited now while a few hours ago she was still love-sick and beaten. He still remembered how tender she looked last night with her tears. Now she was all cheered up again.

"You look beautiful, Kazuha-chan." Shinichi smiled gently at her.

Kazuha suddenly blushed while hearing Shinichi's compliment. She had never heard anything like that from Heiji. If it was Heiji, he would probably say "ahou, what's the difference," or "as ugly as ever." Although she knew Heiji said those things mostly to tease her, she still felt somewhat sad whenever she heard it. Today was indeed the first time that she received a sincere compliment from a man of her age.

The sales girl chuckled at the sight, "Ojou-sama, you are so lucky. You are boyfriend is so handsome and sweet."

"What? He is not my boyfriend!" Kazuha couldn't believe what she heard and shook her head terribly.

"Ok, ok…" The sales girl chuckled, definitely not convinced by Kazuha's denial. After all, she had heard such denials like that from many other shy couples.

Meanwhile, when Shinichi and Kazuha were having this brief shopping excursion in the mall, none of them noticed a camera flash not too far away from them.

* * *

"Where shall we go next?" Shinichi asked Kazuha after they stepped out of the mall, still admiring the brightened up Kazuha with her new hair ribbon.

"Sannon Temple!" Kazuha bounced happily on the street in Kyoto, "Heiji and I used to go there when we were little."

While she was bouncing too merrily, she didn't take notice of her surroundings and tripped over a passing pedestrian. She lost her balance and fell to her left side. But Shinichi's reflex was good enough to catch her waist before she really embarrassed herself in the public.

"Kazuha-chan!" Shinichi got a bit angry, with both his hands holding tight around her waist to keep her balance, worried that she might fall again. "Why are you behaving like a grade school girl? You should look around!"

"Sorry, Kudo-kun." Kazuha naughtily pouted and quickly bounced off again, as if nothing had happened and obviously no lesson learned.

Shinichi sighed and walked faster to catch up with her before she fell again.

Of course, no one noticed a camera flash not too far away from them.

* * *

"This is beautiful!" Standing in the yard of the Sannon Temple in Kyoto, Kazuha beamed and swirled in the rain of petals from the big cherry tree.

She was singing the Kyoto Road Song, her favorite nursery rhyme:

 _Maru dake ebisu ni oshi oike_

 _Yome san rokkaku tako nishiki_

Shinichi looked at her with a content smile, feeling quite relaxed. He had never heard the song before, but Kazuha's clear, girly voice singing the song just made everything perfect. The scene was really beautiful: amidst the rain of cherry blossom in the yard of this old temple, the shinning girl in red dress and red hair ribbon, smiling, swirling, and singing a hundreds-year-old rhyme.

He suddenly remembered that Hattori said he met his first love in this temple when he was ten, also under this cherry tree. And then Hattori told him that girl was the 19-year old maiko Chika Suzu, whom they met in the Sakura-ya Teahouse in Kyoto. Of course, he had no intention to tell Kazuha about this maiko to make her feel any more sad and unworthy.

He sighed and cursed Hattori one more time, "Hattori you idiot … Why do you care so much about your first love? You already have Kazuha … You really break her heart …"

"Kudo-kun?"

Shinichi snapped back to reality with Kazuha's beautiful emerald eyes staring at him. He blushed a little bit, "Yes, Kazuha-chan?"

Kazuha bit her lips, and finally uttered her question, "Has Heiji ever told you about his first love in Kyoto?"

"Ah…" Shinichi blushed even more as he felt Kazuha was reading his mind, "Yes … Oh No! I know nothing about it …"

It couldn't be more obvious that he was lying. Kazuha sighed, "… It is ok, you are also lying to me … Don't worry about it, I understand." She looked up and her smiled still bright, "I know you need to keep the secrete for that ahou … he is your best friend, after all …"

"Etto …" Shinichi scratched his head and felt even more embarrassed.

 _How much has she already known about the maiko?_

"Let's go," Kazuha smiled at him again while walking outside, "I want to go to the Gyokuryu Temple next."

Gyokuryu Temple, of course …

Gyokuryu Temple, unlike Sannon Temple, was a quite deserted place. Not many people, or, almost nobody, came here to visit.

But this place meant a lot to Heiji, Kazuha, and Kudo Shinichi.

Of course, this place.

Shinichi remembered very well. This was the place when he, Kudo Shinichi, risked his life to save Kazuha, because she was his best buddy Hattori Heiji's woman. He was still Conan at that time, and in order to disguise as Hattori, he took the extreme pain and risk to turn back to his 17-year old body temporarily. Heaven knew how much pain he endured while transforming back and forth within a few hours. But seeing Kazuha being saved and the case closed in the end, he felt everything was worthwhile.

Shinichi felt some tightness in his heart. Yes, he risked his life to come here, just to save Kazuha. He didn't know Kendo like Heiji, and his body was suffering like hell. But seeing his best friend lying in the hospital, unconscious and unable to rescue his woman, Shinichi couldn't sit quietly. He had to do something to save Kazuha, on behalf Heiji. He would not hesitate to sacrifice his own life when it comes to help his best friend.

And that was the second time he met Kazuha as Kudo Shinichi instead of Edogawa Conan.

He remembered that night.

This girl was sharp. He could fool others, but he could not fool this girl that he was not Heiji. She saw through him very quickly.

This girl was as brave, as brave as Ran. Although he was there to save her, his body was in too much pain to be of much help and it was Kazuha who used her Aikido to take down some enemies.

This girl was loyal, she stood by the side of Heiji from the beginning to the end. He didn't know what happened to them exactly when they were trapped inside the temple. But Heiji briefly mentioned that she helped him figuring out the drawer that contained the legendary sword, _Muramasa no Youtou_ , which became Heiji's weapon to strike the final, decisive blow on the gang leader.

En … there was also a moment of friendship between Kazuha and him at that time. He remembered that when he, in the form of Conan, fell from the roof, she caught him right in time before he landed on the ground.

Kazuha …

Standing at this familiar place, and staring at this girl, Shinichi noticed there were something uneasy going on inside himself.

* * *

"Kudo-kun?"

Kazuha's voice brought the zoned-out Shinichi back to reality.

"Kazuha-chan …"

She looked him, naughtily, "Kudo-kun, do you know that at that night I already knew you and Conan are the same person?"

Shinichi gasped.

Seeing his utter surprise, Kazuha chuckled. "Well, Conan appeared right after Kudo Shinichi disappeared, and when I caught Conan in my arms, I noticed the 7-year-old's face had the same shade of dark foundation that the just-disappeared-17-yearl-old detective were wearing."

"Do you remember? The first time when I met Kudo Shinichi at Ran's drama performance, I also noticed it was Heiji pretending to be you right away." She winked at him, feeling a little bit uppish, "Both Heiji and you are really bad at using foundation to change your skin tone. You don't even know how to apply it evenly and smoothly! Your poor makeup cannot fool a girl."

Shinichi was speechless.

"You know, I didn't follow Heiji to all the cases for nothing." Kazuha obviously felt quite proud of herself, "I have actually learned a little bit about the art of deduction from Heiji in all these years."

"And after that, I finally understood why Heiji calls Conan 'Kudo' all the time, and everything else fell into places once I realized that you and Conan are the same person."

"Your deduction is not bad …" Shinichi murmured. He realized that Ran, although being present at most cases he was involved while he was Conan, did not show as much interest in learning about the deduction, even though her own father was a detective himself. Ran always worried about the safety of him, whether him being Conan or Shinichi, and was always ready to use her own life to protect him.

But Kazuha, like she just proved herself, was really interested in detective works and she had always been helpful to Heiji in smart ways.

Without knowing what was going on in Shinichi's mind, Kazuha continued talking: "Well, I didn't tell Heiji that I knew. Nor did I tell Ran-chan, even though it also breaks my heart to see Ran-chan feeling sad."

"… Why is that …" Shinichi dared not to even look at her. The sudden realization that she was also a good detective made him worried. What if she saw through him?

But wait … what was he afraid of being seen through?

"Because I know how much you love Ran." Kazuha's eyes met Shinichi's, even though his were evading hers, "So I believe if you are hiding it from her, there must be a good reason. And I guessed that reason must be you were protecting her from something really dangerous, so dangerous that you could be shrunk into a 7-year old."

"So I trusted you, and decided to keep your secret." She gave Shinichi another beam, "But you know it was hard for me as well … as in many occasions I almost blurted it out to Ran when I saw her missing you so much …"

The last words hit Shinichi really hard. He felt like crying. He had no idea that she had been empathetic with him for such a long time, without himself even noticing it. His heart felt warm, but somehow also hollow, because …

He suddenly felt envious of Hattori.

Thinking about it, Kazuha to Heiji was almost like Watson to Holmes. She followed him to every single case and paid attention to his work and always assisted him.

And that made Shinichi envious of his best friend, because him, Kudo Shinichi, despite being known as the Holmes of the Heisei Era, did not have a Watson following him wherever he went and helped him whenever he needed help.

Well, to be fair, he did have a line of helpers: his parents, Dr. Agasa, Haibara and the Young Detective League, Chief Meguri and all the police detectives, Akai-san and other FBI investigators, Amuro-san and his team, and many other helpers around him. But Heiji had always had Kazuha. Just her is enough.

"Hattori … you lucky idiot …"

* * *

"Nani?" Kazuha could not hear Shinichi's murmur very well. She gave him an inquiring look.

Shinichi's chest tightened a bit.

He realized that Heiji and Kazuha, like Holmes and Watson, were inseparable.

How ironic. Heiji's favorite detective was not even Holmes. He liked Ellery Queen. But Ellery didn't even have a Watson-like sidekick.

But Heiji, the lucky idiot, had Kazuha.

He decided to say something on behalf of his idiot friend.

"Kazuha-chan … I think you should really give Hattori some more time before he confesses to you …" He scratched his head, searching for words. "You see, Ran waited me for a long time, so you can also …"

"We are different, Kudo-kun!" Kazuha felt a bit annoyed at what Shinichi jus said. Did he want to suggest that she was not as patient and kind as Ran?

"You and Ran have confessed to each other and she knows it is worth waiting for you. But what about me and Heiji? I confessed to him but he ran away. He never confessed to me and I have already been waiting for him to say something to me for … Gosh I don't even know how long … ten years? I don't want to be an idiot anymore! Don't you think it is really pathetic of me to blindly wait for someone who doesn't really love me?"

"You are not blindly! Hattori really loves you! Don't you remember how many times he had risked his life to save you? You know Hattori is really bad with words, but you should know from what he did for you. He really …" Shinichi was determined. Defending Hattori was the only right thing that he, as Hattori's best friend, should do right now. No matter how envious he was of his best friend, it was Hattori's woman that was at stake now and he couldn't let go off this girl.

No other man could own her, except for Hattori.

But his speech was cut off by Kazuha.

"Enough Kudo-kun... Enough …" Kazuha's eyes darkened.

Shinichi felt so many different emotions got stirred up inside himself. Didn't what he just said make sense to her? Why she could not see how much Hattori loved her? Why would he risk his life to protect her if he didn't love her?

After a minute or two of silence, Kazuha broke the silence. She looked up at Shinichi into his eyes, "Kudo-kun, you also risked your life to save me, right here at this temple, right?"

Shinichi gasped and was completely out of speech. _What does she want to say?_ His body felt more and more stiff.

Kazuha sighed, "Do you see? Saving one's life is different from loving that person … You and Heiji, you are both nice people, you are both responsible and compassionate detectives who value lives! No matter it is my life, or other people's life, you and Heiji would both risk your own to save others, isn't that right?"

Shinichi became completely silent. He couldn't deny a word of what Kazuha just said.

Kazuha blinked her beautiful eyes, and continued to stare at Shinichi into his eyes. He felt he was totally trapped by her gaze.

"Don't you see, Kudo-kun?" Kazuha continued, "Heiji saved me many times, which I owe him dearly, but that doesn't mean he loves me! But I love him for god's sake!" Her voice was clearly trembling and so was her body.

"I know I am important to him, as a childhood friend. I am confident that he would always do everything he could to save me. But that is not love, Kudo-kun. It is not …" The tears she had been holding back for a while finally went out of control and rolled down her porcelain face.

"You risked your life to save me right here, Kudo-kun. And you also saved many, many other people's life, in many occasions risking your own." Kazuha's voice softened, thinking about how lucky her best friend was, "But out of all the people you are willing to trade your own life to save, you only love Ran-chan, right? Don't you see my point? Risking one's life to save another doesn't necessarily mean love, especially for nice, humanitarian people like you and Heiji. You two would just save anybody's life without further thinking."

Her gaze, now looking away from Shinichi, also softened, "And … that's partly why I love Heiji so much …"

To be continued ...

* * *

 **Again, please review. This is a hard chapter as I try to comb through Shinichi and Kazuha's thoughts without making them too much out of character. Well, I have to say it can be really hard for a man and a woman, who had been trying so hard to hide their feelings from each other, to guess the other person's true heart. Although Heiji had done so many for Kazuha, and we know he did everything out of love, in the beginning he didn't realize it himself, and Kazuha, who was not a confident girl to begin with, couldn't convince herself it was love.**

 **Please review and let me know where do you think the story would go!**


	4. Chapter 4: The Moment Before Truth

**Chapter 4: The Moment Before Truth**

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I don't own any Detective Conan/Case Closed characters**

* * *

Kazuha and Shinichi walked side by side for a long time, in complete silence and without a clear destination. Well, at least to Shinichi, he had no idea where they were heading. He was just following Kazuha.

And he was thinking really hard about what Kazuha just said, and he felt chilly all over.

 _Does it mean that … that Ran is not really THAT special to me, after all?_

He wanted to slap himself when the thought popped up.

 _How could I even think of that? Ran has been patiently waiting for me for so long! Of course I love Ran!_

But he felt really helpless while reflecting on what Kazuha just said. Yes, he risked his life to save Ran multiple times, but gosh, like she said, he also did the same for Kazuha, for Hattori, for Haibara, for the Young Detective League kids, and for many other people. If you ask him, he would do that to anybody without second thought.

He had been so convinced that he loved Ran. What he had done for her must be out of love. He would not hesitate to risk his own life to save hers. But what Kazuha just said totally shattered his belief.

* * *

"Kudo-kun," Kazuha broke the long silence, "Thank you for accompanying me walking around Kyoto today. I had a really good time." She beamed at him. "I think now I am ready to go back to Osaka and face Heiji."

"Ah?" Shinichi was still a bit zoned out, "you are going back now?"

Now that she was talking about it, Shinichi realized they were already standing in front of the Kyoto Station.

"Yes." Kazuha said, "I thought about what you said. Maybe you are right. Heiji did a lot to me, and that … might still … might still mean something."

She looked at him with a faint smile: "I will try to have a good sleep tonight and confess to him tomorrow. This will be my last try, I think …" Her shaky voice betrayed her uneasiness, "If he … Well, I am not sure if I can handle even more frustrations …"

"What?" Shinichi felt a bit … fooled !

 _How come she is convinced by me? When I am almost convinced by her?_

 **So who is right?**

Suddenly his cell phone rang. _It must be Hattori or Ran._ Shinichi thought to himself.

While he was still debating whether to pick it up or not, he looked down and realized that the caller ID was … Mom.

With a slight sigh of relief, he answered the call.

"Hey, Mom," his eyes turned into half-moon shape, "What's up?"

"Shin-chan!" Mom's voice was as lively as usual.

 _Just like Kazuha's voice_ … _Wait, what am I thinking?_

Shinichi shook his head and forced his thought back to the phone conversation.

"Shin-chan! You know what?" Yukiko almost yelled, "You are accepted by Harvard!"

 _Harvard … Kazuha … Harvard … Ran … Kazuha …_

For a few seconds, Shinichi was at loss what was the right response to what he just heard.

"… Shin-chan? Are you listening?" Yukiko was concerned when she didn't hear any response from Shinichi. But in no time she realized what was the problem, "Of course, Shin-chan, I know you don't want to come to the states because of Ran-chan, but I am sure there are something that you guys can work out!"

"Mom, can we not talk about it now?" Shinichi hang up the phone before Yukiko could further protest.

Great, Harvard accepted him.

Yes, now his ego had been satisfied.

According to his original plan, now that he was really accepted by Harvard, he should decline without second thought because he wanted to stay with Ran. But …

"What's up? Kudo-kun?" Kazuha looked at Shinichi's uneasy expression. She was quite concerned.

"Is there anything … to be concerned about … about your mom or your dad?" She asked, quite concerned. Of course, she just heard Shinichi saying "mom" over the phone and Shinichi's face did not seem to suggest something pleasant.

"No …" Looking at her beautiful emerald eyes, Shinichi skipped a heartbeat.

"Kazuha-chan … My Mom just told me that … that I am accepted by Harvard …"

"Really? Congratulations!" Kazuha's eyes widened with joy. She jumped at the news and gave Shinichi a sincere, warm-hearted hug.

Shinichi froze, while Kazuha's widespread arms circled him and her soft chest touched his, even for just a brief split of second.

It was just a friendly hug, an innocent hug between friends. But …

While Kazuha quickly withdrew from the hug, something suddenly occurred to her.

"Sorry Kudo-kun … You won't go … of course … Ran-chan …" Kazuha felt both embarrassed and sorry that she somehow couldn't make up a complete sentence. HowBut Shinichi knew what she wanted to say.

"… Will you … will you go?" He nervously uttered out his true concern.

"Me? Go where?" Kazuha was surprised that the topic of the conversation suddenly became herself, but she soon saw the connection here. "Ah I see …"

Yes, she was also accepted by Harvard, and that was the very reason that prompted her to confess to Heiji yesterday.

"You know …" She lowered her eyelids, "you know, I just said I would give it a last try to confess to Heiji … It all depends on what he says …"

Shinichi felt some unexplainable heartache, and before he knew it, words escaped his mouth: "If I go, will you go as well?"

Both of them were dumbfounded by this question.

A long silence befell.

"Kudo-kun …" Kazuha tried to break the awkwardness, "I see no connection between your decision and mine … right?"

"Never mind …" Shinichi hoped there was a time machine so that he could take back what he just said.

 _Indeed, what am I thinking? It's myself and Ran that I should be thinking about now! Just like Kazuha is thinking about herself and Heiji! There is no damn connection between the future of Kudo Shinichi and the future of Toyama Kazuha!_

"I am sorry, Kazuha-chan," He looked away so that the girl wouldn't notice the how red his face had turned, "I must be really tired."

Kazuha, whose mind was still occupied by Heiji, quickly dismissed it as an innocent slip of tongue.

"Sorry, Kudo-kun, for keeping you busy yesterday and today with my stupid lovesickness." Kazuha thanked him, wholeheartedly. She was grateful that she could get to know Shinichi better. Such a nice person, indeed.

* * *

Kazuha's phone beeped. She looked at the phone: another incoming message.

Kazuha sighed. It must be from Heiji again.

In the past 24 hours, she already received hundreds of messages from her childhood friend.

"Where are you ahou!"

"Call me back idiot!"

"Are you out of your mind stupid woman!"

"Stop playing hide-and-seek blockhead!"

"…"

"…"

Kazuha suddenly found that she didn't like their name-calling routines anymore. In the past seventeen years people around them already got used to their mutual "ahou" calling and so did themselves.

But who, especially a sensitive, insecure, unconfident girl would like to be called "idiot," "ahou," "stupid," and "ugly" by the boy she loved wholeheartedly all the time?

She felt tired.

And she almost had the urge to delete this new, unread message right away.

But then she realized it was from an unknown number.

With some relief and some curiosity, Kazuha pressed on the message:

 _"Happa-chan, this is Ōoka Momiji. You must have been wondering about who is Heiji-kun's first love. Come to the Sannon Temple if you want to know the answer."_

Kazuha was almost trembling. Deep inside she had some pretty good guess of what she would hear from Momiji.

 _Is she … going to tell me what I think she will tell me?_

She felt the courage that Shinichi just gave her to face Heiji again was quickly draining.

 _So, it is really her? Heiji's first love … Momiji … what a beautiful couple …_

The scene of the kiss between Heiji and Momiji came to her mind again and made her dizzy.

Kazuha felt more vulnerable than ever.

"Okay." Her shaky hand typed a concise reply.

"Is it Hattori?" Shinichi looked at Kazuha who was checking her phone message. He saw that her face became saddened all of a sudden while staring at her phone, and that sight made his heart ache.

Kazuha was silent for a few seconds. Instead of answering him, she squeezed a smile at Shinichi, "I need to use the restroom before I jump on the train. Bye Kudo-kun! Thank you for everything!"

"See you …" Shinichi was not exactly surprised by the sudden farewell. Kazuha did not ask him to come along but he volunteered himself nonetheless. From the beginning he knew it was just a short trip and they would say goodbye sometime soon. After that, he would go back to Ran in Tokyo, and Kazuha would go back to Heiji in Osaka.

Last night and today was just a one-time intersection. They would separate and go on their respective paths soon after.

But he did not want to say goodbye. It all happened too fast.

However, as much as he wanted to grab Kazuha's hand and ask her to stay a bit longer, there was no way he could stop a girl from going to the restroom. Staring at her back disappearing into the big crowds coming in and out of the Kyoto Station, he sighed deeply and went to the ticket machine to buy his own return ticket to Tokyo.

He had a long, long day, and there were many, many things he need to recollect and rethink, over and over again. About his feeling for Ran, about his future, college, and about … Kazuha …?

At least, the 2 hours of uninterrupted time on the bullet train would be helpful.

He took his ticket from the ticket machine and walked to the entrance.

* * *

Kudo Shinichi suddenly felt very, very uneasy.

And in no time, he identified the source of his uneasiness.

He saw a girl with ponytail, in red dress and red hair ribbon, running out of the station.

 _Wait, what is she doing here? She should have already boarded the Osaka-bound train?_

Without second thought, he pushed his way into the overwhelming weekend crowds to catch up with the girl.

 _What is she doing? She is not going back to Osaka? Anything wrong?_

He felt more and more uneasy as he saw girl's figure quickly disappearing in the crowds.

"Kazuha-chan!"

He yelled at the top of his voice, which attracted the attention of many people. However, Kazuha was probably too far to hear him.

"Kazuha! Wait for me!"

While he continued to call out Kazuha's name, many people around him chuckled.

"Lost your pretty girlfriend, young man?"

"Get the girl back!"

"…"

Shinichi was not at all interested in explaining the already messed up situation to strangers. All he cared about at this moment was to find Kazuha. He sensed something bad would happen to the innocent girl if he couldn't find her right away.

Shinichi congratulated himself for bring Conan's tracking glasses. Although Kazuha was already faraway, he could still see the direction she was heading to. However, it was really hard to catch up his speed in such a large crowd. It would have been so much easier with the small body of Conan. Well, even better if he had Conan's skateboard with him.

But anyway, Kudo Shinichi was an expert of tracking people down.

And he saw Kazuha running to the direction of … Sannon Temple?

Shinichi felt his head spinning.

* * *

Heiji was racing on his motorbike with full speed. He needed the constant strong, cool breeze to clear his mind.

Just yesterday, to his utter surprise, Ōoka Momiji, the girl who claimed to be his fiancé before, appeared on the campus of Kaihou High School.

"Heiji, I am your first love." Momiji declared to Heiji with confidence.

"What?" Heiji couldn't believe what he just heard. He already found out his dear Kazuha was also his first love, a fact that thrilled him.

"Heiji-kun," With her usual graceful smile, Momiji extended her hand to Heiji, "do you recognize this?"

It is one pearl earring.

"I saw the interview of you and the picture of you showing the pearl from your first love," She examined at the pearl earring, which must have cost a fortune, with a smile of affection, "And I realize it is mine."

She looked up at Heiji, "You know, I lost one of my pearl earrings nine years ago. And when I saw your picture I realize you have my lost pearl."

Satisfied with the surprised look of Heiji, Momiji moved closer and closer to Heiji, finally landing her lips on his.

Heiji's eyes wide opened. He knew Momiji was talking nonsense. The pearl belonged to the stolen Buddha statue which he had found and sent back to the Sannon Temple. And it could not be from an earring anyway, as Kazuha did not even have earholes.

"What are you doing!" When he realized the Momiji was forcing a kiss on him, he pushed her away and the girl almost fell.

"Heiji-kun!" Momiji felt humiliated by Heiji's strong reaction. She was quite confident in her own female charm.

 _No man could resist me_. So she believed.

She already felt humiliating enough when last time Heiji told her that the fiancé thing was an utter misunderstanding. How could he destroy her like that? For a decade, she had been loyally waiting for their next meeting when he would finally marry her!

But Heiji simply told her it was not at all what he had promised her.

Never in her life had she been rejected so mercilessly like that.

Then Iori showed her the Heiji's interview, in which he talked about his first love.

"So he hasn't found her yet …" Realizing that Heiji's first love was a Kyoto girl, Momiji found that she had another chance to finally win over her "fiancé."

But that was what she got … a second humiliation …

* * *

And Heiji, while rapidly walking away from Momiji, felt more annoyed than ever. He hoped Kazuha didn't see what just happened.

But … He swore he saw Kazuha's ponytail and her yellow ribbon disappearing into the dazzling afternoon sunshine.

Damn it! That stupid woman must have seen it and misunderstood! I've got to explain to her!

He called her right away. Well, she didn't pick up, as expected.

He sent her dozens or hundreds of messages. He called her parents, his parents, Ōtaki-han, Mikiko-chan, and then Nee-chan and Kudo in Tokyo, and even the Young Detective League kids! He looked for her at all the places they usually go together.

He couldn't sleep last night, worrying about the safety of that ahou.

 _Where could she go? Where would she hide? Does she hate me? How can I explain?_

Until he received the 2 photos from an unknown ID:

 _My Kazuha, and … Kudo._

In the first one, Kazuha's head was slightly tilting forward, revealing her smooth, porcelain neckline. She is in a dazzling red dress that he had never seen her wearing before. Behind her, Kudo is tying a red ribbon on her signature ponytail. The angle of the photo made it hard to see the expressions on both their faces, but it was clear that both of them were blushing.

In the second one, Kudo is putting both his damn arms around Kazuha's tiny waist and she is leaning into his embrace with a bright, carefree smile.

Heiji felt his blood turning cold, then hot, then cold again …

Just then, another incoming message:

 _Want to know more about how your girl betrayed you? Come to Sannon Temple before dawn._

The word "betray" hit Heiji like a hammer-blow.

* * *

And here he was. Kyoto, Sannon Temple.

When Heiji walked into the courtyard of the temple, he felt his breath was taken away by the familiar sight: the old cherry tree, the flying sakura petals, and most importantly, a figure …

A figure of a young girl in red kimono.

The last rays of light from the sinking sun dazzled Heiji's eyes. The figure was indistinct, but at that moment he couldn't think of anything else.

 _Kazuha … Kazuha … My Kazuha …_

He picked up his pace, walked closer and closer to the girl, and once his trembling hands touched her shoulder, he told himself it was not a dream. Without hesitation, he hugged her from behind as hard as he could.

"Do you know you are my first love …" He buried his head in her neck.

"You … it has always been you … only you …"

To be continued ...

* * *

 **For those of you who have been patiently waiting for my update, I thank you for your patience and faithfulness. I don't plan to leave this story, as well as two other HeiKazu stories I have been writing, unfinished. But with your reviews and messages I have more motivations to keep up writing and fantasizing! Please Read and Review!**

 **And spoiler/warning: the next chapter contains smutty content. Please skip if you don't feel comfortable.**


	5. Chapter 5: Mistake After Mistake

**Chapter 5: Mistake After Mistake**

* * *

 **Disclaim: I don't own any DC characters.**

* * *

 **Warning:** **This chapter contains smutty contents. Please stop if you don't feel comfortable reading. Also, I bet the development in this chapter will make people hate the story ... so beware if you can't bear to see anything other than ShinRan and HeiKazu! Again, I am a big fan of ShinRan and even a bigger fan of HeiKazu. This story is an experiment to test some different chemistry.**

* * *

Kazuha was running as fast as she could.

 _She knew it!_

What a real idiot of her to come back to the temple to witness this! She finally made up her mind, thanks to Kudo-kun, to talk to Heiji again and hopefully clear up any "misunderstandings." But …

There was simply no misunderstanding.

 _Déjà vu_.

If that kiss scene she saw yesterday was too vague, the lovely hug scene that she just witnessed was distinct and unmistakably…romantic.

 _She knew it. Why was she so stupid to keep up her hope? Kudo-kun was wrong! Completely wrong!_

Yes, Heiji was hugging Momiji. And she heard it with her own ears that Heiji said Momiji was his first love. It has always been her, only her …

 _Congratulations, my best friend Heiji, for finally finding your first love …_

Now, all she wanted to do was to have some drinks. She needed something strong, something strong enough that she could forget about everything.

 _It's Over._

* * *

On the other hand, Shinichi searched for Kazuha like crazy. He saw her running toward the direction of the Sannon Temple, but soon she turned back and headed to somewhere else. With his tracking glasses he could roughly make out her whereabout, but unlike the runaway criminals who usually had a clear direction to head to, Kazuha moved in such a random zig-zag way that made him constantly turn back and forth and hence easily got caught in the crowded streets of the Saturday night Kyoto.

Kazuha, at the meantime, was sitting at the bar of a nightclub. She just had two drinks and felt hot all over. Her brain became more and more muddled. But to her dismay, she still couldn't stop thinking about Heiji.

The boy had been in her life for eighteen years. And she just couldn't help to fall in love with her smart, handsome, athletic, and hot-blooded childhood friend.

But now the time had come for her to say goodbye to her feelings.

A man noticed the pretty girl sitting all alone and took the seat next to her. Smiling, he offered her a drink, and Kazuha, totally oblivious of her surroundings, blindly took it without even looking at her neighbor. Seeing that she was totally zoned out, the man dropped a pill that quickly dissolved into her drink.

When Shinichi walked into the nightclub where Kazuha was at, he was just in time to see that a man dropping a pill into her drink.

"Damn it!" Shinichi cursed and pushed his way toward the bar.

"Kazuha, don't drink it!" He yelled out. But Kazuha didn't hear him. Well, for one, the pub was way too noisy. And also, she was entirely absorbed in her utter defeat that she had essentially shut herself out.

When Shinichi finally pushed his way through the crowds to where Kazuha was sitting, his head almost exploded when he saw Kazuha drank the entire glass of wine in one gulp, followed by the man sitting next to her starting to put one of his dirty hands on her thigh.

Before he knew it, Shinichi threw his fist and hit the man right in the nose.

"Ouch!" The man yelled out of hurt and surprise, seeing Shinichi helping the almost unconscious Kazuha getting off the bar stool.

"Keep your dirty hands off her!" Shinichi yelled at the man who he just hit to the floor.

The entire pub now fixed their eyes on the fight. Not before long, one person murmured, "isn't that Kudo Shinichi, the Detective of the East?"

People gasped, and quickly searched for Kudo Shinichi's photo on their phones. In a few seconds it was confirmed that without any doubt, this was Kudo Shinichi in flesh, in a nightclub in Kyoto, picking a fight with someone.

"Is he tracking down some criminals here?" Several people in the pub suggested a plausible explanation of the famous detective's presence here.

The man Shinichi just hit struggled to stand up. He looked up and down at the angry teenager: "Hey! What's wrong with you! I am just offering her a drink! Is she your girlfriend or something?"

Without realizing what he said, Shinichi blurted out:

 _"She is my woman and don't you dare touch her again!"_

The crowd gasped again. Several people already took videos of the famous high school detective's public acknowledgement of "his woman" and with another click they sent the videos to their LINE friends.

"So Kudo Shinichi has a girlfriend, after all."

"Lucky girl! She looks pretty, anyway."

"So that's Kudo Shinichi's type?"

"He is so handsome!"

"Wow, he is so manly to defend his girlfriend like that …"

"…."

While people were still gossiping, Shinichi helped the shivering Kazuha walking out.

Kazuha was not exactly aware of what just happened in the pub. She heard noises of people fighting and yelling and glasses shattering, but the poor girl's brain was too fussy to properly assess the situation.

Her head was leaning against a strong, warm chest.

The smell was familiar, and made her feeling safe.

Looking up, Kazuha was taken by surprise: "… Kudo … kun?"

When he met Kazuha's big watery emerald eyes, he couldn't describe the deep feelings he had been holding back.

"Don't worry, Kazuha-chan." He bent down and softly whispered in her ear, "I will accompany you back to Osaka."

But suddenly he realized there was something else he had to deal with first.

Looking back, he saw a whole bunch of people coming out of the nightclub, after he and Kazuha, and each holding his or her phone high up in the air taking photos or videos.

"Kudo Shinichi-san!"

"Kudo-sama!"

"Detective of the East!"

"Is that your girlfriend, Mr. Detective?"

"…"

Shinichi sweated: "Damn it!"

Without second thought, he picked up Kazuha in bridal style and ran away from the crowd as fast as he could. He realized he probably already made news in the social media.

Kazuha, on the other hand, had no chance to ask any question or voice any protest before she was picked up by Shinichi. She knew it was Shinichi. And she knew there was a commotion around them.

But on top of everything, she also knew there are something terribly wrong going on inside her body.

She felt really hot, burning hot, so hot that she wanted to rip off her dress so her skin could breathe. But her consciousness, which was diminishing by the second, told herself that she could not do that when there were still others around.

What's worse, her heart was pounding faster than ever and she was terrified by some unfamiliar, indescribable, and irresistible strong sensation coming from her lower body.

"Kudo … kun …" She panted heavily, "Take me … take me to … the hospital …"

Shinichi also felt the girl's body getting hotter and hotter.

"Don't worry Kazuha-chan," he comforted her, "You are having a fever. I will take you to the hospital."

Assured, Kazuha closed her eyes and buried her head in his chest obediently, but her panting was getting faster and heavier.

Unfortunately, the noisy, inquisitive crowd of people were still fervently tagging them along.

"Damn it!" Shinichi cursed inside, "Hattori, you owe me big!"

The great detective boy quickly evaluated his limited options to escape from the scene. In a split of second, he dashed into an inconspicuous side door of a luxurious building under the neon sign of "Suzuki Grand Hotel Kyoto."

This, of course, was a hotel owned by Suzuki Sonoko's family. During the Teitan High School's school trip last year, the one when Ran kissed his cheek in response to his confession of love to her, their entire class stayed in this hotel. He still roughly remembered the floor plan of the hotel and quickly decided where they should hide for now. Through the side door he found his way to the wine cellar, which he quickly confirmed had nobody else inside, and locked the door behind.

* * *

"Kazuha, are you ok?"

Shinichi gently put Kazuha down and helped her to sit against the wall.

"I am sorry, Kazuha. We have to wait here for a little bit …" He used his sleeve to wipe off the sweat on Kazuha's forehead, "I will find a doctor for you right away."

Standing up, Shinichi pulled out his phone and started to text Sonoko:

 _Sonoko I need …_

He was about to type "I need to see the Suzuki Kyoto hotel's doctor in residence," but before he could finish typing the whole sentence, he heard a big splash sound from behind followed by a cry.

Shinichi was absolutely shocked when he looked back and saw what had just happened.

Not sure what triggered it, but obviously the bung of a barrel on the top shelf popped out and the wine flooded out, making a sudden splash of alcoholic shower. Kazuha, who happened to sit right beneath, was soaked in the unexpected shower of pouring liquor.

"Shit!" Shinichi dropped the phone and ran to Kazuha's rescue.

Kazuha coughed uncontrollably. She was almost chocked by the sudden flow of liquor that got into her mouth. Some also got into her eyes that she felt her eyes burning and unable to open.

Now soaking wet, she shivered with chilliness and felt the urgent need for warmth. But with her eyes unable to open, her hands could only blindly search around for something to hold on to. When her hands reached a comfortably warm body she immediately jumped over.

"Ouch!" Shinichi almost fainted when Kazuha suddenly threw herself at him and knocked him over. Now he was pinned down to the floor, or more precisely, into the newly formed puddle of liquor, his shirt got wet all over as well.

Kazuha, now lying on top of Shinichi, breathed heavily. Her face completely flushed. The dress, now completely drenched in wine as well her own sweat, clung to her body seamlessly, revealing her perfect curvature.

With her chest rose and fell rapidly, Shinichi felt the indescribable feeling of Kazuha's softness rubbing against his own chest. While her body turned a little bit cold after the wine accident, now it became even hotter than before they entered the cellar.

"Oh damn …" Shinichi panicked as he felt his own face flushing and his own body temperature on the rise. "Kazuha, calm down …"

With their bodies clung so close together Shinichi felt a lack of oxygen. He struggled to push Kazuha's body away from his own so he could sit themselves up. Now their position became Kazuha's lean legs straddling his lap.

He knew the last drink that Kazuha had at the nightclub was suspicious. The pill that the man threw in must be some kind of aphrodisiac. And now with the shower of wine … oh gosh … he didn't want to think further …

 _What an idiot of me to bring her into the wine cellar!_

But now what could he do?

Kazuha's hot breadth brushed against Shinichi's ears, sending tickling and tingling sensations throughout his body. He meant to push her away, but his arms inadvertently hugged her tighter, pulling her body closer to his and his hands inadvertently slipped to her hips.

But when his hands touched the fullness of her hips, some consciousness revived and he quickly withdrew his hands to her waist.

"Oh stop, Kudo Shinichi!" His inner voice screamed.

But even if Shinichi still had the willpower to control where his hands could touch, his mind had absolutely no way to control the growing hotness in his lower abdomen …

In other words, his junior member was getting up … and hard … and harder …

"No …" He wanted to scream in despair. How did things get so out of control? Could a doctor still save the scene?

Meanwhile, Kazuha rubbed her eyes against Shinichi's shoulder to squeeze out the remaining liquor. She was trying really hard to open her eyes, but her vision was quite blurry. She knew a moment ago she was together with Kudo-kun, but while she blinked several times, it looked like Heiji's face right in front of her.

"Heiji …" She smiled at Shinichi.

"Wait …" Shinichi felt quite uneasy, and … sad?

"Heiji, I … still love you," Kazuha murmured, "Even if you don't love me …"

Before Shinichi knew it, the unconscious Kazuha dragged his collar and drew him closer, planting a deep kiss onto his lips.

"Oh no …" This was more than what poor Shinichi could handle at this moment. Her lips were warm and wet. Her breath, a mixture of her own cherry scent and the intoxicating aroma of the wine, penetrated his mouth and down his throat and suddenly made him feeling drunk as well.

He had never kissed Ran on the lips before and he always wondered what it would feel like. And now he knew …

It felt damn good!

But …

 _But the girl he's kissing right now is Kazuha! Not Ran!_

"Kazuha!" His reason told him to break away from her lips, "Kazuha! I am not Hattori!" He had to bring her back to herself before he loses himself.

"Heiji, I really don't want to give you up …" Kazuha murmured, with another try to pull Shinichi closer to her and put her pink lips on his again.

"Ka …" Shinichi panicked. He couldn't let this continue. Otherwise he would never be able to explain to Ran and Hattori.

Well, as if he could explain what's happening now …

"Heiji …" All Kazuha could see was Heiji, his eyes, his face, his lips. She was drowned in the ecstasy of kissing her favorite boy that she couldn't even tell who herself was.

Her ecstasy became more intense when his lips started to respond to hers, and then his tongue started to make its way into her mouth, searching for hers.

Meanwhile, their lower body parts kept rubbing against each other. Although still separated by three layers of fabrics of Kazuha's underpants, Shinichi's pants and underpants, the unfamiliar but electrifying sensation made both teenagers losing their minds.

Shinichi's arms clenched Kazuha even stronger and even tighter, and he no longer restricted the movements of his hands.

His reasoning was completely lost and gone. All he saw was a woman he desired, even though she was calling another man's name.

"Kazuha …" His trembling hands unzipped her dress from the back. When his hands got in direct touch with her soft skin, he felt Kazuha's body froze for a few seconds and then her panting became even heavier.

"Hmm …" When her dress was removed, Kazuha finally felt the coolness that she had been longing for. But the coolness was ephemeral when she suddenly felt one of her earlobes licked and sucked. That new sensation instantly set her body on fire again.

Shinichi shivered at the moaning sound that just escape her lips when he bit her earlobe. Bewitched by the intoxicating sound, his kiss moved down her neckline to her collarbone, earning even more sweet moans from Kazuha.

Oh, her porcelain skin …

When his kiss moved down her cleavage, he buried his head between her twin peaks and savored her delicious body scent. Totally bewitched, he used his teeth and one hand to pull down her bra, and didn't spare even one second before his lips claimed the delicately pink bud on one of her snow-white hills.

"No …" Kazuha gasped, and let out another low cry when she felt a warm and wet hand covered and squeezed the other of the twin friends. Wave after wave of new and provocative sensations took away her breath and the acute feeling of emptiness in her lower abdomen became more and more unbearable.

"I am sorry … Kazuha …" Shinichi's voice became coarse, "I can't stop … now …"

Both teenagers had no experience of such things at all. Now with their minds already muddled by alcohol and passion, they were acting purely out of their physical instincts. They touched each other and searched for each other like they have never been loved before.

"Ah …" Both of them cried out, in unison.

Kazuha felt the indescribable emptiness in her lower abdomen suddenly got filled and satisfied but soon overtaken by unbearable, tearing pain. Tears instantly filler her eyes and the overwhelming pain brought some of her senses back.

At the same time, Shinichi was not feeling any better. The virgin girl was too tight and almost squeezed the soul out of him. Even though she was more than well lubricated inside, he was unable to move any further.

Oh, the damned the first time …

"Kudo …kun?" Kazuha opened her eyes wide, initially surprised, and then terrified to see the boy in front of her, the boy who was still inside her, was Kudo Shinichi!

"Why … Shinichi …"

Shinichi, who had been hearing Heiji's name since when they first started doing what they were doing, was electrified when he heard his own name slipping from the girl's sweet lips. All of a sudden, the pain was gone and he pushed all the way into her.

So warm … like … heaven …

During the brief pause, Kazuha's pain also diminished and the overwhelming sensation of being completely filled sent pleasure all over her body.

Now she knew what they were doing, and she knew the one that's inside her was Shinichi, not Heiji, but … she couldn't call stop.

With every movement, the pleasure kept accumulating. She couldn't handle it. Neither could he.

To be continued ...

* * *

The night got darker, and darker.

* * *

 **Ok readers, thank you for reaching the end of this chapter. As I wrote in the beginning, this chapter might make many hate the story, which I don't blame you. but please leave your reviews so I know better what you think.**

 **And if you like it, please favorite and follow the story/author!**

 **お願いします！**


	6. Chapter 6: The Daylight We Can't Face

**Chapter 6: The Daylight We Can't Face**

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I don't own any DC characters.**

* * *

 **Warning: More smutting contents below. Stop reading if you don't feel comfortable.**

* * *

The two teenagers cuddled together on the liquor-drenched floor in the wine cellar.

Kazuha already passed out. The climax was too strong and the sensation too new for her body to handle. Not to mention she was still under the double influence of aphrodisiac and liquor.

Shinichi, though still sweating heavily, was awake. Sitting against the wall, he gently rubbed the back of Kazuha, who was still sitting on his lap, her chest against his.

And he … was still inside her, unwilling to withdraw from the warmness and wetness.

What a terrible thing he had done to Kazuha!

The scent of sherry, the wine that accidently gushed out, somehow didn't fade out but only got stronger in the air.

He couldn't believe his first time was in a wine cellar.

But most importantly, he couldn't believe his first time was … not with Ran.

Reflecting on what happened last night, one adversity after another that finally led to the mess that they were in now, he felt more hopeless and helpless than ever.

What a terrible night ...

But … he also felt immensely happy ...

 _What does it mean?_

Looking down, he couldn't help to plant another gentle, affectionate kiss on the still flushed cheek of the sleeping beauty in his arms. He thought he wouldn't mind to stare at this innocent face forever.

 _Does it mean … I am in love with … with Kazuha?_

"No, no, no …" Shinichi shook his head heavily, trying to convince himself otherwise. He had loved Ran since he was four, and they already started dating. How could he could betray Ran and fall in love with somebody else?

But the immense pleasure he's experiencing now … Yes, it was just sex. It must be that. No man could physically resist her in such unusual circumstances.

 _Well, such unusual circumstances …_

At that moment, a thought suddenly crossed Shinichi's mind.

 _We were being set up._

Scratching his head, the detective boy tried to use his currently limited reasoning capacity to go through the chain of events las night. There were so many fishy things, thinking about it. For example, how did the eighteen-year-old Kazuha ended up in a club? The ID requirement was very strict in Kyoto, as far as he knew. And how come there just "happened" to be a pervert dropping an aphrodisiac in her drink?

Well, the paparazzi-like crowd that cornered them was sort of unavoidable, given what already transpired up till that point.

And, the accident with alcohol … how come the bung just "happened" to pop open?

He suddenly had a theory. But he needed to check something online to confirm his theory. So he tried to reach out for his cell phone that he dropped earlier.

However, the phone was not as close to him as he hoped it could be, and the movement of stretching out somehow … somehow made Kazuha to slightly twist and the peak of her softness seductively rubbed against Shinichi's chest. The movement also made her to slightly swung her hips. With that, a soft moan escaped her lips.

"Oh no …" Shinichi felt desperate as he realized what he still left in Kazuha's body got instantly hard again …

Now all his blood flew to the lower abdomen again and his brain spaced out again. As much as he could blame it all on physical instinct, at this very moment, he could not suppress the acute, overwhelming desire to do what they just did again.

His suddenly intensified movement woke up the exhausted Kazuha.

"Shin … ichi?"

Her soft voice was like music to Shinichi's ears. If there was still some slight possibility to stop a moment ago, now all was too late.

* * *

3 A.M.

Round two was finally over. Kazuha, as expected, passed out again. Shinichi, also exhausted, let out a long sigh.

His head was spinning. There were so many things he had to worry about. But first things first, they couldn't stay in the wine cellar like that.

It was quite embarrassing to pick up their wine-drenched clothes. It was even more embarrassing, and took tremendous self-control, to put the still wet underwear and dress back on Kazuha.

Finally able to check what he was wondering on his phone, Shinichi confirmed that the club that Kazuha was in earlier was a Ōoka corporation property. Also, the Suzuki Hotel, although still retained the golden "Suzuki" name branding, was actually bought by the Ōoka corporation just a month ago.

Well, thinking about it, the entire drama actually started with Ōoka Momiji and Hattori kissing.

Although he didn't exactly know what happened between the time when he saw Kazuha leaving the Kyoto Station and when he found her in the club, it was not crazy to assume that it also had something to do with the Ōoka girl.

Alright, they had to leave the hotel as soon as possible. Any further lingering at this now Ōoka property might set something even worse in motion.

He cursed himself for his terrible self-control. If not for the prolonged round two, they could have had already left this place a while ago.

Making sure nobody was following, Shinichi exited the side door that they entered earlier, and ran into a small nearby ryokan[1].

The okami[2] of the ryokan was a kind-looking obasan. Looking up and down the two soaking wet teenagers, one of them still in the knocked-out state, she made a common-sense guess of their relationship. She quickly prepared room and bath for them, and offered them some fresh clothes for changing.

"Okami-san, do you mind …" Shinichi scratched his head and blushed, "do you mind to help her taking a bath?"

"Girlfriend?"[3]The okami chuckled.

"Ano ..." Shinichi's face became even redder.

Chuckling, the okami did not want to further embarrass the shy high-schooler, "I will take care of her."

The okami was very experienced with handling situations like that. She was quite gentle when bathing Kazuha. She knew very well not to probe too much into the privacy of her guests, but the tiny red kiss-marks all over this pretty girl's body said everything.

Kazuha must be really, really exhausted. She didn't wake up at all when the okami bathed her.

The poor girl really deserved a good night sleep.

Well, after all, she needed energy to deal with the unknown tomorrow.

The daylight she had to face.

Or rather, the daylight THEY had to face.

* * *

It's already day time. Although Shinichi was not sure of the exact time.

Unlike the sunny Saturday, today was a cloudy day. Dark clouds even suggested high chance of storm.

As exhausted as he had been, both physically and mentally, Shinichi didn't sleep much last night.

That was in sharp contrast with the still sound asleep girl next to him.

They were sleeping on different futons. The okami only took out one in the beginning –– she assumed that's what the young lovebirds wanted –– but Shinichi insisted to use a separate futon and for that he earned a fair share of skeptical glances from the okami.

Well, he just didn't trust his self-control anymore.

However, when he saw Kazuha's right hand inadvertently slipping out of the comforter, he couldn't help to hold it.

It might be the last time that he could hold her hand.

He couldn't sleep at all. On the one hand, the thought of Kazuha's body, her eyes, her lips, her ponytail, her smile, and her voice simply refused to fade in his mind. On the hand, he was also haunted by the fear of explaining to his family and friends, and maybe even to the media, about what happened last night.

 _Kami-sama, what shall I do …_

While Shinichi's left hand was still holding Kazuha's, his other hand reached out for his phone. Last night he set it to airplane mode so that they could at least have a few more disturbance-free hours.

Now, as much as he wanted to keep the phone in airplane mode, he knew playing ostrich wouldn't do anybody any good. They had to face the daylight.

As soon as he turned off the airplane mode, the cell started ringing loudly.

"Oh no ... " Shinichi murmured in frustration. He knew the phone will ring like crazy today. But that soon? Weren't people supposed to sleep in on Sunday?

Afraid to wake up Kazuha, he tried to press the "decline" button in a flurry, but accidently pressed "answer."

With that, a high-pitched, loud female voice almost broke his eardrum:

 _"Kudo Shinichi! What do you think you are doing! It is all over the social media!"_

Shinichi stretched his arm as much as he could to protect his right ear from deafening. He didn't have to look at the caller ID to tell this was Suzuki Sonoko. A.k.a., Queen S.

"Sono …" Before Shinichi could actually say anything, Sonoko's piercing voice cut him right in:

 _"Now everyone is talking about the awesome Detective of the East screwing your best friend's girlfriend and breaking the heart of your girlfriend aka my best friend!_

Sonoko couldn't control her anger. Too bad her boyfriend Makoto, the undefeatable karate champion, was in America now, otherwise she would definitely ask him to punch Shinichi in the face with all his might.

"Sonoko! Kazuha is not Heiji's girlfriend!"

Oh no … Shinichi regretted right away after he blurted it out.

 _Damn it, that is totally not the point! What am I thinking!_

"Regardless!" The anger of Queen S kept rising, "How could you declare in public that Kazuha-chan is your woman while you are still dating Ran!"

"Sonoko, please calm down …" Shinichi was almost begging the all righteous Suzuki Ojo-sama.

"Calm down? How can I come down!" Shinichi's begging tone did not soothe Sonoko's fury at all. "Kudo Shinichi, you owe me – No, you owe Ran an explanation! Let me tell you, if you break Ran's heart I will ask Makoto to kill you!"

"Sonoko, please … I will talk to you later." With that he hung up the phone and set it to vibration mode as fast as he could.

However, hanging up Sonoko's call was not the end, but rather the beginning of the never ending calls and messages that followed. Staring at the notifications of unread messages and missed calls that flooded the phone's screen, Shinichi felt like bumping his head into the wall.

Sera-san, Kuroba, Hakuba, Aoko-chan, Haibara, Mom, Dr. Agasa, Jodie-Sensei… And even Amuro-san and Akai-san!

 _Oh, you people_ … Shinichi felt more frustrated than ever. He didn't realize even Amuro-san and Akai-san were interested in teenage gossips ...

 _But, wait …_

He realized that something, something really important, was missing.

Ran never called.

Neither did Hattori.

* * *

Suddenly feeling his left hand being gently squeezed, Shinichi turned his head to the left and met Kazuha's big emerald eyes.

"Ka … Kazuha?"

"Kudo-kun …" Kazuha blinked, her eyes a little bit out of focus, "did we …did we …?"

Too embarrassed, she couldn't finish the sentence. But Shinichi knew what she wanted to ask and both of them knew the answer to her question.

Last night, though under strong influence, for a good amount of time Kazuha was not completely unconscious. After a long night of sleep, the memory became a little vague, but the soreness in her lower body reminded her that she was not entirely dreaming.

"Ano …" Shinichi opened his mouth and tried to say something, but couldn't find the appropriate words. After a long stare at her, he uttered: "I am sorry …"

Tears already filled Kazuha's green eyes.

"It's all my fault …" She turned her head away to face the ceiling so her tears would not roll out, "I was such an idiot …"

"Kazuha, it's not your fault ..." Shinichi gently rubbed the back of Kazuha's hand. The sight of her sad look made his heart ache. "It's all me …"

Kazuha shook her head slowly, "No, Kudo-kun … I know you were trying to help me … if not for you, I would be …I would be …" Biting her lips, the poor girl couldn't continue.

Both of them knew: if Shinichi didn't show up, Kazuha would have been raped by the guy who drugged her.

"I can't forgive myself …" Kazuha's voice became more and more whimpering, "I … Ran-chan … I am sorry …"

Shinichi's entire body quivered when he heard Ran's name.

 _Ran … Oh, I can't be forgiven …_

With his utmost apologetic thought about Ran, however, he subconsciously tightened his grip of Kazuha's now cold right hand.

"Kazuha, you know …" After a long silence, Shinichi cleared his throat and said, "It was actually a set up. If my deduction is not wrong, it must be that Ōoka woman that's behind everything, from her kissing Hattori …"

"Oh, Heiji …" Now Kazuha could not hold her tears any longer. Like Ran's name made Shinichi shiver, Heiji's name sent overwhelming feeling of sadness and desperation to all her nerve endings.

"Kazuha! Don't …" Shinichi panicked when he saw tears flooding out from Kazuha's eyes and wetting her pillow instantly. He jumped out from his futon and knelt beside Kazuha's futon, using his right hand to help Kazuha wiping her tears while his left hand was still holding her tightly.

Sobbing and whimpering uncontrollably, Kazuha couldn't think any lower of herself. What an idiot she had been! Why didn't she just take the Shinkansen back to Osaka earlier last night? Why did she even want to find out who Heiji's first love was when he clearly didn't love her? It was always curiosity that killed the cat!

 _Oh, Heiji …_

Knowing Heiji as who he was, Kazuha knew her hot-blooded childhood friend would do everything possible to avenge her, had she been really drug-raped.

But what would he do, if he found out that she and his best friend Kudo Shinichi had sex? She would never accuse Shinichi of raping her. She knew very well she bore 100% of the responsibility for getting herself into such an irredeemable situation and Shinichi did everything he could to help her getting out of her own mess.

Well, in this case …

Kazuha could imagine how Heiji would yell at her for being such a super ahou, who lost her virginity in such a careless and idiotic manner. He would probably even hate her for involving his best buddy Kudo and endangering Kudo's relationship with Nee-chan.

 _Ran-chan …_

Ran's angelic face haunted Kazuha's mind.

Frames after frames of their fun, sweet, and heart-to-heart moments flashed back:

When Ran changed her top immediately just because Kazuha thought she and Heiji were wearing couple's matching clothes …

When Ran cleared the scene for her to confess to Heiji, although that ahou messed it up in the end …

When Ran confronted Heiji, on her behalf, about the "what are you doing to my Kazuha" incident at the Ebisu Bridge …

When Ran imitated Heiji's voice to "confess" to her while watching Tokyo's illumination fest …

When Ran practiced Karuta cards with her overnight before her "love showdown" with Momiji …

…

Ran-chan had given her nothing but kindness.

Kazuha bit her lips, too hard that her lips started bleeding.

 _Ran-chan, I would never, never forgive myself for hurting you …_

 _If I didn't go to Kudo-kun's house for help in the first place …_

 _Now, I am irredeemable …_

* * *

How long did Kazuha-chan cry? Thirty minutes? One hour? Two hours?

Shinichi didn't know. When he saw Kazuha bit her lips to bleeding, he grind his teeth to hold back the urge to bent down to suck up the blood from her lips with a kiss.

He was out of words of comforting her. Silently, he just faithfully knelt by her side and helped her wiping her tears.

Until Kazuha's sobbing finally tapered off.

Struggled to sit up, Kazuha tried her best not to groan while the soreness in her lower body did not subside much.

"Kudo-kun, I am so sorry …" she lowered her head, evading Shinichi's eyes, "It was a mistake, a terrible mistake … please, please forget about it …"

Shinichi skipped a heartbeat.

 _She wants to forget about it? It was a terrible mistake?_

Well, rationally, he knew what Kazuha said was right. It was just a one-night. It was a mistake, and they should both forget about it …

 _But … do I really want to forget about … her?_

"And … and, you know …" Kazuha continued after a short pause, "You know … let's don't tell anyone else …" her voice became even lower.

"Talking about that …" Shinichi took a deep breath and his desperation deepened, "We actually have a big problem …"

Sighing, he showed Kazuha the video that Kuroba Kaito, a.k.a. Kaito Kid-sama, just forwarded to him. Well, according to Kaito, that was only one of the dozens of similar videos that already went viral on social media.

 _"She is my woman and don't you dare touch her again!"_

"So … you see … the question is not … is not whether we should tell anyone," Shinichi scratched his head nervously when he heard himself in the video, "but rather … how could we explain to everyone …"

Kazuha's eyes widened in shock. It didn't take a genius to figure out that there must have been some commotions when Shinichi got her out of the club, even though she was already half-unconscious at that time. But … She looked at Shinichi in disbelief: why did he say that she was his woman?

Shinichi turned his head away to evade her shocked look. It was not hard, especially for a great detective, to read the question in her eyes. But frankly speaking, he himself was still thinking why the hell he said that …

"Don't worry, Kudo-kun," Kazuha let out a long sigh, "I will go to Tokyo with you today and explain to Ran-chan …I know you said it just … just to get this stupid woman out of that mess …"

She lowered her eyelids, "What's important is that … that your heart never betrayed Ran-chan, and that's all she needs to know …, right?"

"You and I …" Kazuha's face blushed like a tomato, "it was just … just …" She bit her lips again, still unable to utter that word. "You know what I am talking about … it's just one time, in extraordinary circumstance …, right?"

Her questions were not entirely questions, but rather, the assurance that she needed to convince herself and ease her own conscience.

"Kazuha …" Shinichi didn't answer her questions. He only squeezed her hand even tighter.

* * *

So, as Kazuha insisted, instead of going back to Osaka, she went to Tokyo with Shinichi first and explained to Ran in person.

In the Mouri Detective Agency, Kazuha told Ran what happened, from what triggered to her to go to Shinichi for help in the first place, to how she spent a day in Kyoto with Shinichi just to get over Heiji, why she turned back to Sannon Temple and got emotionally crushed, and how she, so carelessly, was almost taken advantage of by a pervert in the club until Shinichi saved the scene. She skipped the aphrodisiac part, as well as the sex part that ensued.

 _All Ran-chan needs to know is that Kudo-kun's heart never betrayed her._

 _It was all my fault that he and I …_

"Poor Kazuha-chan!" Ran cried and hugged Kazuha as tight as she could. She could only imagine what a rollercoaster experience it was for her poor, lovelorn friend.

"Shinichi," She wiped her tears and turned to her boyfriend with her angelic smile, "Thank you for taking care of Kazuha-chan."

"Sure …" Shinichi found himself unable to look into Ran's eyes. He never, never intended to betray Ran, whether his heart or his body. All he could do now was to think over and over again as Kazuha told him earlier, that what happened between he and Kazuha was an unfortunate mistake and that his heart didn't betray Ran.

"Ran-chan, again I am sorry …" Kazuha forced a smile at Ran, "and I need to head back to Osaka now. Tomorrow is Monday, you know."

"But Kazuha-chan, you look exhausted!" Ran said worriedly, "Why don't you take a day off school and stay with me tonight?"

"Thank you, Ran-chan. But I have to go home." Kazuha immediately shook her head at the offer.

She couldn't look into Ran's angelic eyes any more.

The more Ran looked at her with her signature gentle look, the more she felt herself an ugly, unworthy woman, inside and out.

Shinichi, looking at Kazuha standing up and leaving, felt some indescribable emptiness in his heart. Seeing the firmness in her eyes, he suddenly had the fear that he would never see her again. Terrified, he stood up and caught her by arm, "I will accompany you to Osaka."

Kazuha froze at the already familiar touch of his skin. But she soon came to her senses and withdrew her arm.

"Thank you Kudo-kun." She shook her head without looking at him, "But I think you must be tired yourself. I am ok to go back by myself."

"Kazuha-chan!" Ran cut in, "I think Shinichi is right! It's getting dark and what if something like last night happen again?"

Kazuha wanted to further protest but Ran already started pushing both of them out of the office. "I would like to go to see you off at the station myself, but I also have a lot to do myself …" She smiled, "you know, such as stopping Sonoko and Sera-san from killing Shinichi." She gave them a naughty wink.

"Wait, Ran-chan …" Kazuha felt even more guilty. Frankly speaking, she couldn't allow herself to be close to Shinichi anymore. She already dragged this innocent boy into so much of her own messes. But …

* * *

Well, there was another person that she had to face.

To be continued ...

* * *

 **Hello everyone, I am working hard these days to write more chapters, however the story is not going to be short at this point and the end is not near. If you like it, please read and review. The more you review, the more I am motivated to write!**

 **And if you like it, please favorite and follow the story/author.**

 **ありがどうございます！**

* * *

[1] 旅館: Japanese-style inn

[2] 女将: Hostess/owner of a ryokan or restaurant

[3] In Japanese, "she/her" and "girlfriend" are the same word "kanojo" 彼女. So the conversation was: Shinichi:「彼女に風呂へ入るのを手伝って欲しい。」, and the okami asked: 「彼女？」


	7. Chapter 7: The Evening We Can't Face

**Chapter 7: The Evening We Can't Face**

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I Don't own any DC characters.**

* * *

Cars in the Shinkansen, no matter how busy, were always quiet.

Especially in the evening.

It was Shinichi and Kazuha's third trip by the Tōkaidō Shinkansen within merely two days.

Kazuha, taking the window seat, was trying to sleep.

But her racing mind wouldn't let her.

No matter how hard she forced her eyelids to close, the angelic face and sincere look of Ran-chan kept popping up in her mind.

 _Ran-chan … I am sorry …_

Well, she was in part relieved that she at least explained to Ran-chan in person first things first. And thank God that Ran-chan didn't break up with Kudo-kun because of her.

But … she knew she didn't leave Tokyo with a clear conscience.

Technically, she didn't lie to Ran-chan. Everything she told her was true, at least to the best of her knowledge. However, she couldn't help but feeling immensely guilty about not telling Ran-chan the entire story.

For that, she wasn't sure if she could still look at Ran-chan into her eyes any more.

Those shinning blue eyes, like the purest sapphires in the world …

 _Ran-chan …_

* * *

"…?"

Kazuha suddenly opened her eyes.

Well, it was not because she gave up the attempt to sleep, but because she suddenly felt a heavy weight dropping on her left shoulder.

Looking to her left, Kazuha saw Shinichi, resting his head on her shoulder, was sound asleep.

She didn't know that unlike her, Shinichi didn't sleep much last night.

Looking at the great detective's sleeping face, Kazuha suddenly felt like skipping a heartbeat.

This was the first time that she got to examine Shinichi's face so closely. As proud and sometimes even arrogant as he always appeared to be in front of others, at this moment he looked just like a little boy looking for a shoulder to lean on.

Kazuha smiled.

It occurred to her that she actually hadn't been smiling at all since when she first bid Shinichi farewell at the Kyoto Station last night.

"You poor thing …" She realized that her shoulder was actually too skinny to make a comfy pillow. If he could sleep soundly even on such a bony structure, he must be really, really tired.

Somehow, the sight suddenly invoked the well-known image of Mr. Mōri Kogoro, aka, the "Sleeping Kogoro."

 _What if Kudo-kun also solves cases while sleeping?_

Well, she already knew since when Shinichi was still Conan that Sleeping Kogoro was entire this naughty boy's creation. But regardless, everyone loved the sleeping detective. It was much more amusing to see a detective solving the case in sleep.

En … she wouldn't mind to see a showdown between Sleeping Shinichi vs. Sleeping Kogoro, aka, the future son-in-law vs. father-in-law.

The thought made Kazuha giggle and she had to try very hard not to laugh out loud.

Her giggling, however, made Shinichi losing balance. His head fell from her shoulder and landed right on her laps.

"Ouch …" Kazuha let out a low cry. The falling weight of a full-grown eighteen-year-old young man was indeed something.

But that didn't seem to wake up the boy at all. Instead, finding himself a much more comfy and plushie pillow on Kazuha's laps, Shinichi slept even more soundly.

As Shinichi settled himself on her laps, Kazuha looked at the almost baby-like sleeping face and felt some unexplainable affection sprouting deep inside.

Her left hand inadvertently combed through his hair, which was a little messy, and then gently petted on his cheek, which was a little bit sweaty.

She felt … like his mom.

"Hmm …" Kazuha tittered at this absurd thought.

Now she felt so much lightened up. Feeling the steady, hot breath on her laps, she found the tension and stress that had been piling up these days gradually subsiding.

Smiling, she continued to examine Shinichi's peaceful face. Well, to be honest, except for the skin tones and eyebrows, he really looked like Heiji. No wonder last time when he came to the Gyokuryu Temple in Heiji's clothes, even she didn't doubt he was not Heiji.

 _Oh, Heiji …._

Kazuha felt her just lightened-up heart sinking again.

That hot-blooded boy, her secret love …

 _What should I say to him?_

Just like she didn't want to lie to Ran-chan, she didn't want to say any lies to Heiji, either.

However, unlike Ran-chan, who had kown her feelings for Heiji from the beginning, that dumb ahou himself had no clue about her love for him.

Of course she wouldn't tell Heiji that she saw him and Momiji kissing in Kaihou. Neither would she tell him that she saw him and Momiji hugging in the Sannon Temple.

…

That two scenes still had a crushing effect on her. Putting her right hand over her eyes, Kazuha tried to block the instantly overwhelming tears from rolling out.

Well … if taken that out, there was not much left that she could actually say to Heiji.

 _So … really, tell him nothing …?_

That didn't sound right, and made her feel even more guilty.

But, did she really owe an explanation to Heiji?

He was not even her boyfriend. In fact, he was probably already officially Momiji's boyfriend.

 _Does it make a difference, whether I tell him or not?_

* * *

"Kudo-kun, wake up." Kazuha patted Shinichi's shoulder gently, "We are approaching Shin-Osaka now."

"Ah …" Reluctantly, Shinichi opened his eyes, and immediately jumped up when he realized what his super comfortable pillow was.

"Sorry Kazuha …" He scratched his still messy hair, feeling really embarrassed, "I slept like a log, I guess …"

"No worries." Kazuha giggled, amused by Shinichi's half sleepy, funny look. "Let's get off the train first."

The time was 7:10 pm.

Looking at her watch, Kazuha frowned: "Kudo-kun, I think you'd better jump on the next train back to Tokyo. You have school tomorrow as well." She showed him the train schedule on her phone: "The last Nozomi to Tokyo departs at 9:03 pm, less than two hours from now. It will take 40 minutes by subway from Shin-Osaka to my home in Neyagawa. If you go back and forth, I am afraid you won't be able to catch the last train."

"Mmm …" Shinichi knew she was right. Time was indeed quite tight, "Maybe it will be faster by cab?"

"No, not on Sunday." Kazuha shook her head, "You have no idea how jammed the Hanshin Highway is on Sunday evening. It will take longer and the time will be less predictable."

"Well, then let's run! If we don't waste any more time discussing this issue, two hours is enough for me to make it back here to catch the 9:03 Nozomi." Taking Kazuha's wrist, Shinichi dragged the girl to run together to the direction of the subway.

"Wait!" Suddenly being pulled forward, Kazuha almost tripped.

"You know, I need to make sure you arrive home safe and sound." Shinichi turned his head back a little bit and smiled, "What if you bump into some bad guys while walking alone?"

"Well, what if I bump into yet another murder case while walking with you?" Catching up her pace, Kazuha chuckled, "You know corpses just keep dropping around you whenever you go."

"Be fair, Kazuha!" Shinichi grumbled, "I have no control of what those crazy murderers want to do!"

"Sure, sure." Kazuha laughed out aloud, "You are just Mr. Grim Reaper."

In a flash of second, Shinichi felt a bit dazzled by Kazuha's shining smile.

He couldn't believe how fast she bounced back from all those blows!

Smiling back at the girl, he said: "Well, if bad guys see you walking with Mr. Grim Reaper, they won't dare to get close to you."

Kazuha's eyes widened.

Having been tagging along Heiji all her life, she was used to her hot-blooded and hot-tempered childhood friend ridiculing backher in their name-calling games. She was expecting Shinichi to say something like "shut up you old and ugly witch" to counter her calling him "Grim Reaper."

She didn't expect Shinichi to just light-heartedly accept the "Mr. Grim Reaper" title and even used it to make an argument to protect her.

No raised voice. No name-calling. No yelling.

She's not at all used to it. Not yet.

* * *

Getting out of the Neyagawa station, Shinichi and Kazuha gasped the pouring rain.

It seemed that the storm that had been lingering over Kansai for the whole day finally came down in full force.

"Oh no …" Kazuha grumbled. They waited for about ten minutes, but there was no sign of the rain getting any smaller. Looking at her watch, she was really worried about Shinichi missing his return train: "Kudo-kun, you should go back to Shin-Osaka station now. It's almost 8 pm and …"

"No." Shinichi shook his head, "I need to see you walk into your house before I leave."

"It only takes 5 minutes from here to my house. I promise I will be fine and you should leave, now!" Kazuha was getting more and more worried as time kept passing by.

"I don't trust you." Shinichi's face became stern, "Yesterday at Kyoto Station, I only took my eyes off you for a few minutes and you ran away and got yourself into big trouble."

"That …" Kazuha blushed. Indeed, she knew now she already had a bad track record.

"Ok, the rain is getting a little bit smaller now …" Looking at the slightly subsiding rain, Shinichi took off his jacket and put it over Kazuha's head, "Let's quickly run to your house now, if you don't want me to be late."

"Hey! But you will be all wet!" Kazuha protested, but Shinichi already dragged her into the rain and her voice quickly dissolved into the pouring sound.

* * *

"Ah, finally …" Kazuha let out a long sigh of relief when they arrived at hour house.

"Thank you, Kudo-kun, now that I am home now and you should go…" Kicking her shoes off at the genkan and handing over the coat back to Shinichi, Kazuha ran to search in the entrance closet, "let me find you an umbrella … Ah! Here it is!"

"Oh …" When she turned back to hand the umbrella to the boy behind her, whose hair was dripping water and clothes soaking wet, Kazuha realized Shinichi needed more than an umbrella.

"Kudo-kun, come in quickly. I will get you a towel and some of my dad's clothes. You need to dry yourself and change." She checked her watch: 8:02 pm, "You will still have a little bit of extra time if you change quickly. Otherwise, you will get sick siting in the airconditioned Shinkansen car for two and half hours in your wet clothes."

"Thanks …" Shinichi felt dizzy. Actually, he already felt a little bit sick since last night. But afraid that Kazuha and Ran would worry, he didn't say anything about it. Now, the untimely rain was definitely taking a toll on his poorly rested body. His wet clothes sticking to his body, he shivered again and again but still tried his best to hide it. He didn't want Kazuha to feel bad that he gave his coat to her as rain protection while he himself got so drenched.

"I put my dad's clothes on the rack, and there are clean towels inside you can use." Kazuha showed Shinichi the way to the bathroom on the first floor.

"Thanks …" Shinichi found his legs getting heavier and heavier while walking to the bathroom. Feelings of chilliness and faintness also kept getting more and more acute. Closing the bathroom door, he saw his as red as tomato face in the mirror. "Oh gosh …"

8:10 pm

"Kudo-kun, are you done?" Kazuha was waiting anxiously outside the bathroom. There was just a bit over 50 minutes left to catch the 9:03 train but Shinichi was still in the bathroom. "If you don't hurry up, you will miss …"

"I am fine …" Shinichi opened the door, panting hard, "Sorry it took me a bit long … to dry up …"

"… Are you … feeling ok?" Kazuha was a bit shocked seeing Shinichi's flushed face.

"You look feverish …" She put one hand on his forehead and another one on her own to check his temperature.

"Oh no …" She gasped, "You have a high fever."

"I am fine …" Shinichi denied, but not at all convincing.

"Come and take a seat first." Kazuha supported him walking to the couch and sat him down. "I need to call Ran-chan."

As soon as she made sure Shinichi was settled comfortably in the couth, Kazuha dialed Ran's number.

"Moshi moshi … Hi, Ran-chan, it's Kazuha here …Right, I just got home, thank you Ran-chan … Ran-chan, we have a problem here –– Kudo-kun is having a fever …Yes, I am sorry, we got caught in the rain …Do you know what medicine he usually takes for fever? …Esutakku? Let me see, I should have some in the house …Oh no, the Esutakku bottle is empty … Wait, I found Tylenol, is that ok? …Oh great, I will give him some then … you talk to him for now."

Handing the phone over to Shinichi, Kazuha ran to the kitchen to get some warm water for Shinichi to take the medicine.

"Shinichi, are you feeling ok?" Ran was very worried when she heard that Shinichi had high fever.

"Don't worry, Ran …" Shinichi cleared his throat, but his voice still sounded coarser than usual, "I am fine …"

"Oh, poor Shinichi, you sound really ill…" Ran sighed. She knew her boyfriend was absolutely not fine right now, "Don't use your voice too much. Let me talk to Kazuha-chan."

Kazuha already brought over water and Tylenol: "Kudo-kun, Ran-chan said Tylenol should be fine for your fever."

Unable to say "thank you," Shinichi just nodded and at the same time handed the phone over to her.

"Ran-chan …" Kazuha checked her watch, "Don't worry, I think Kudo-kun can still make the 9:03 Nozomi to Tokyo …"

Ran was checking the weather in Kansai on TV. It seemed the rain will continue for the entire night. She had a different thought:

"Kazuha-chan, I don't think Shinichi should rush back tonight. He just took the medicine and should have a good sleep to recover. What do you think?"

"Ano …" Kazuha hesitated. She was actually thinking about that herself as well. Indeed, it wasn't nice of her to so hurriedly kick out someone who was so sick at the moment, not to mention he got sick mostly because of her. She should have asked him to stay, even just out of courtesy.

If this happened two days ago, or even just yesterday, she would have no problem with that.

But, after last night …

 _Oh, my …_

Kazuha shook her head in despair.

All she wanted to do now was to withdraw, to escape, to reverse to what they used to be before.

"Kazuha-chan?" Ran was surprised by the silence over the phone. Knowing Kazuha's warm-hearted personality, she assumed she would agree immediately.

"Ano … you know, my parents are not home right now … and you know, I am not that good at taking care of patients …" Kazuha scratched her head to think of something reasonable and convincing.

"Etto … how about that?" She suddenly came up with an idea, "I can call Heiji and ask him to take Kudo-kun to his house. You know Heiji's mom is probably the best at taking care of people …"

"Kazuha-chan!" Ran frowned. Kazuha didn't sound like her usual self at all. What she said all sounded like pretexts.

Well … actually, she could understand her. The poor girl had been through a lot herself in the past two days. She must be too tired herself to take care of others.

But still, Ran didn't think what Kazuha suggested was a good idea.

"Kazuha-chan, I think it's better for Shinichi not to move around too much now. I know you are tired yourself. But now that he took the medicine all he needs now is a good night sleep."

"Please, Kazuha-chan." Ran's voice softened, "Thank you for taking care of Shinichi for me."

"Yes … Ran-chan." Kazuha sighed. What could she say? All in all, it's all her own fault.

* * *

2 am.

Kazuha got up, but only half awake. She set an alarm at this hour so she could check Shinichi's temperature. If he still had fever, then he had to take Tylenol again.

Walking as silently as possibly into the guest room, Kazuha knelt beside the bed to feel Shinichi's forehead.

And the poor boy still had fever.

Sighing, she gently shook Shinichi's shoulder to wake him up: "Kudo-kun, time for medicine."

Shinichi, in his sleep, vaguely heard someone calling his name. But he was too sick and too sleepy to fully open his eyes. In a half-sleeping state, he obediently followed the instructions of the gentle voice, sit up a bit, took the medicine, and drank the water.

His body felt hot inside and out. But the accidental touch of coolness, which he felt when he was holding the water glass, felt very comfortable. He liked it much better than the glass. Subconsciously, he dropped glass and both of his hands took hold that cool thing and tucked it under the blanket.

Oh … finally feeling cooler …

"Ouch!" Kazuha wanted to cry when Shinichi dropped the glass on her toe and spilled half a glass of water on her pajama. She needed some tissue for cleaning up. But as she tried to stand up she realized her right hand was locked in Shinichi's palms.

Well … she could see it's because her hand felt cold and comfortable for a patient with fever.

She made several attempts to withdrew her hand, but all in vain. Just got out of her warm bed, she already felt quite cold. And now the water spill …

Kazuha sighed. Thinking about it, she got drenched for three night in a row …

But looking at Shinichi's sweaty sleeping face, Kazuha felt more sorry for him than for herself.

What happened to her were all self-inflicted.

But Kudo-kun … It's all because of her …

Yawning, she rested her head on the edge of Shinichi's bed, and fell into sleep herself.

* * *

Shinichi felt less hot, thanks to Tylenol, as well the cool thing that he was holding between his palms.

… _What is it? …_

He slightly rubbed and squeezed it, and enjoyed its softness and smoothness. It felt familiar.

Could it be … _… Kazuha's hand …?_

Struggling to open his eyes, he saw Kazuha kneeling by the bedside and her head resting on the edge of the bed.

The sight made Shinichi a little bit more awake.

 _What happened? … Hopefully I did not do anything stupid …_

Scratching his head, Shinichi tried to fight his headache to remember how he ended up here.

He recalled that last night he caught fever after getting soaked in the rain, that he changed into Kazuha's father's dry clothes, and that he took medicine and water from Kazuha.

And then, very vaguely, he remembered overhearing Ran and Kazuha discussing whether he should stay here overnight or not …

Looking at Kazuha, he saw an empty water glass on the floor, not too far away from her. Moving his right hand slightly up her arm, he realized her sleeve was wet.

Ok, too easy for the detective boy to tell that he must have dropped the glass and spilled water on her …

Kazuha's body slightly shivered.

Shinichi realized she must be feeling really cold now, as he could feel her hand getting colder and colder, even caught up in his super hot palms.

It was all because he dropped the glass and didn't let go of her hand, so her pajama got wet and she couldn't even get a towel or blanket for herself.

Shinichi felt quite apologetic.

He should get Kazuha back to her bed.

But so weak as he still was at that moment, he wasn't really in the condition to carry her over to her bedroom, not to mention that he actually didn't even know where her bedroom was.

Sighing helplessly, Shinichi did the next best thing he could do.

He sat up, and tried his best to pull Kazuha's body onto the bed. Making sure she was not awakened, he then gently put his blanket all on her.

Himself feeling too hot instead of too cold at that moment, Shinichi was ok to sleep without the blanket.

He also inched to the wall, making sure there was a safe distance between them.

Kazuha must have been feeling really, really cold. As soon as she felt the warmth of the blanket, she wrapped herself up fully and tightly.

Staring at the girl so cutely cocooned in the blanket and feeling her breath so close, Shinichi suddenly skipped a heartbeat. Almost feeling possessed, he closed the distance between them that he just created himself, and squeeze himself into the blanket with her.

As soon as his feverish body got into touch with the girl's cool body, his let out a sigh of relief.

 _It feels really, really curing …_

He couldn't believe, for three nights in a row, they had been sleeping together ...

At the same time, the sleeping girl appreciated the added warmth. Subconsciously, she curled her way into the warm embrace.

To be continued ...

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 **Hello all! Many of you have PMed me to finish it. Well, the finish line is definitely not within one or two chapters. But I am working hard to write and keep the storyline going. Please, if you like it, favorite and follow the story/author. And as important, please leave your reviews! I work full-time and it is hard to find time writing a fanfic. It's the reviews and messages that keep me going!**


	8. Chapter 8: I Would Rather Catch a Cold

Chapter **8: I Would Rather Catch a Cold**

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 **Disclaimer: I don't own any DC characters.**

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 **Warning: Momiji in this chapter is quite out of character. If you are a Momiji fan please stop reading. I don't dislike Momiji. The way I portray her is purely for the sake of this story in particular. So please beware!**

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Hattori Heiji couldn't feel any more defeated.

When he received Kazuha's "cheating" photos from an anonymous sender, he was completely driven nuts. Like possessed, he raced to Kyoto in full speed, just to look for the most important thing for him.

Last time, he denied saying "what are you do to my Kazuha" at the Ebisu Bridge and told Kazuha that the most important thing to him, the Great Detective of the West, was not this stupid woman, but proof, proof, proof!

Well … only he knew what's really the most important to him.

How he hoped these were just photoshopped!

But in whatever way, he needed proof!

When he finally arrived at the Sannon Temple, as instructed by the anonymous person who sent him the photos of Kazuha and Kudo, he was stunned by the _déjà vu_ scene of when he first fell in love with that little girl in red kimono.

At that moment, he forgot about why he came here. All he saw was his girl, now grown up, wearing her red kimono waiting for him under the same cherry tree.

He wanted to feel her, with his own hands, to confirm it was not an illusion that would evaporate at one touch.

Excited, he ran to her, and ready to confess to her at this very moment.

He had been searching for the perfect place to confess to his girl, a place that she would remember for life. What could be better than this? What could be better than the place when he first fell in love with her?

He hugged her and made sure she was not an illusion. In ecstasy, he told her everything, that she was his first love, that he loved her, that he always loved her.

But …

 _Why the damn hell is Momiji here!_

Quickly releasing his arms and stepping back, Heiji was stunned and couldn't feel more ashamed that he, the Great Detective of the West, once again got short-circuited when Kazuha was involved!

The first time, when he saw Kazuha taken away at Ebisu Bridge, he got too anxious and didn't figure out the identities of the narcotics control officers.[1]

The second time, when Kaito Kid pretended to be Kazuha to steal the conch pearl "Fairy's Lips," he was too attracted by his girl's "lips" and didn't recognize this was not Kazuha but the naughty Kaito's impersonation.[2]

And this time … he was so overwhelmed with the sudden joy, mixed with near disbelief, that he saw his Kazuha in the same setting as when he first fell in love with her.

But he didn't see clearly this was not actually Kazuha!

Bummer …

Yet another entry on his long list of failed attempts to confess to Kazuha …

"Momiji?" He couldn't feel more humiliated, realizing Momiji just heard his love confession, in its entirety! "Why on earth are you doing here?"

"Me?" Momiji looked surprised, "I said I will show you more about how Happa-chan cheated on you. Didn't I?"

"So it was you? The anonymous message?" Heiji narrowed his eyes, "What do you want, Momiji?"

"I thought you must be interested," smiled Momiji, "Look, I have more photos, and also some videos of Happa-chan cheating behind your back, with your best friend."

Handing over her phone to Heiji, Momiji looked at him anxiously, "Heiji-kun, you see, she is not worth it!"

Ok, now Heiji remembered why he came here in the first place - to see the proof of Kazuha cheating on him.

Momiji's phone stored dozens, if not hundreds of photos, as well as a few videos, of Kazuha and Kudo together, acting intimately, some of them even more intimate than the two Heiji got earlier. All, however, were taking from a distance.

"Why … why the hell do you have that …" Heiji doubted the intent of Momiji.

"I just happened to see Happa-chan on the street today." Momiji shrugged, "I saw her with the famous Kudo Shinichi, and I thought that was interesting."

Getting no response from Heiji, Momiji went on, "I usually see Happa-chan tagging you along. It's quite ... how do you put it? eye-opening, maybe? — to see her with another handsome guy, not to mention that guy is your best friend, isn't he?" She smiled, "I was just curious –– you know, curiosity is in human nature –– and I happen to have many assistants to help me collecting evidence."

"I did this for you, Heiji-kun ..." Momiji blushed a little bit, "... you do see that ..."

"It is none of your business!" Heiji interrupted Momiji and angrily threw the phone back at her, so hard that Momiji almost got hit by it.

He wanted to scream out to release some of the heaviness that's crushing his mind and body.

 _What the hell is Kazuha doing?! What the hell is Kudo doing?!_

With heavy yet rapid steps, he walked out of the temple, entirely ignoring Momiji calling his name again and again from behind.

Taking out his phone, he looked at the top two names on his contact list. His thumb raised, hesitated, lingered, trembled, and finally closed the phone.

Raising his head, for an instant he thought he saw someone, someone with a ponytail, in a red dress, running away into the distant.

 _… Kazuha…?_

No, no, no … Heiji shook his head, trying to bring his senses back.

It must be an illusion, again.

How stupid could he be, if he mistaken someone else as Kazuha twice in a roll, within just a few minutes?

"Heiji-kun! Wait!" Momiji caught up, slightly panting.

She walked pass Heiji and turned around to face him: "If you still don't believe, I can let you see –– with your own eyes –– what a flirtatious woman Toyama Kazuha is."

It was an unexpected but pleasant serendipity to see Happa-chan and Kudo Shinichi hanging out together in Kyoto. What a heaven-sent chance!

Therefore, the smart and resourceful Ōoka Ojō-sama, together with her loyal assistant Iori, quick set up everything needed to fully expose the inner slut of the seemingly innocent Happa-chan.

She already had everything ready in motion. All she needed now was to have Heiji to witness it himself. The Ōoka Pharmaceutical just developed a new fertility drug nicknamed "vega." If accidentally taken in large doze, it can ignite strong female arousal much, much more than any currently available drug on the market or any black market aphrodisiacs. If mixed with certain types of alcohol, the sexually boosting effect would be doubled or even tippled. Because of this and other side effects, vega had not yet been cleared by Pmda (Japanese equivalent of FDA).

Well, it seemed "vega" could be put into good use today ...

"Ōoka, I thought you were a smart woman." Heiji looked at Momiji in contempt, holding back his urge to hit her in the face, "Didn't you hear I just said it's none of your business?"

"Heiji-kun!" Momiji almost fell when Heiji brushed her aside and walked away.

"Heiji-kun!"

"…"

* * *

With a befuddled mind and a confused heart, when Heiji rode back to Osaka, for several times he almost ran into accidents.

For the first time in his life, he felt like a total failure.

He could take it lightly and positively when he lost to Kudo in solving the case of the murder of the diplomat.

He could even bite the bullet if he would eventually lose to Kudo in finding the most romantic place for love confession.

But he never, never imagined that he could lose Kazuha, his Kazuha, to Kudo Shinichi.

When he saw Kudo's bar fight video that Okita forwarded to him later that night, the shock to him was already secondary.

Was that what Momiji wanted him to see in person?

Well, it didn't make too much of a difference now ...

He was already at the nadir. More shocks along the same vein wouldn't make it go even lower.

Or so as he thought.

On Sunday he thought about it for the entire day, about Kazuha and himself.

He didn't call her –– she already ignored his hundreds of calls from Friday night to Saturday. Why in the world would he expect her to pick up the phone now?

Now, everyone on social media was fervently talking about Kudo's ponytailed girlfriend, and soon the over-enthusiastic gossipers found out the girl's name was Toyama Kazuha, and it didn't take these people long to figure out that the girl was also Hattori Heiji's rumored girlfriend. How exciting!

He thought about calling Nee-chan. But he imagined Nee-chan would be as hurt as him, if not more, and he, Hattori Heiji, was the worst person in the world to offer anyone any consolation.

He also thought about calling his other bros, such as Kuroba or Hakuba. But he felt too ashamed to admit that his girl got stolen and he had no clue about it whatsoever. The proud Hattori Heiji didn't want to be pitied by others.

The dark-skinned detective punched into the wall, feeling more helpless and clueless than ever.

 _Fine, I have to talk to that ahou in person …_

Although he knew that Momiji played a less than honorable role in this, at this moment, he really didn't really have the heart or energy to figured out what Momiji did. What he really cared about was what Kazuha had to say.

 _She must have an explanation …_

Heiji knew that Kazuha, the model student as she had always been, wouldn't skip classes like he always did. Which means, no matter how much she's trying to hide away from him, she would still go to school on Monday.

Ok, so here's the plan. Tomorrow morning, he would go to her house to pick her up as usual, and while walking to school together they could talk.

 _Yes, that's it._

* * *

Shinichi had no idea that one day he would wake up by a heavy punch on his face.

Opening his heavy eyelids, Shinichi saw the angry face of his dark-skinned counterpart/best friend. Meanwhile, he got almost deafened by the familiar yelling in Kansai-ben:

"What the hell do you think you are doing, Kudo Shinichi?!"

Heiji couldn't believe what he saw.

He had the key to Kazuha's house –– their families had always kept each other's keys. So in the morning when he rang the bell and heard no footsteps, he just opened the door himself.

Opening the front door of the Toyama residence, Heiji was at first relieved to see Kazuha's dirty shoes at the genkan. _Great, she's home._

But … what on earth is that pair of men's sneakers?!

Having a really bad hunch, he ran in without even taking of his shoes – an act that Kazuha would have killed him but now he couldn't have cared less – and rushed upstairs to Kazuha's room.

Only to find her bedroom … empty.

"Kazuha! Kazuha! Where are you, ahou!" He called out her name, knowing for sure she must be in the house somewhere.

Suddenly seeing the door to the guest room opening, his eyes widened.

Walking into the guest room, Heiji couldn't help the urge to kill everyone within his sight as he saw …

Kazuha and Shinichi sleeping on the same bed, with his best friend's one arm around his childhood friend's waist, and his childhood friend curling comfortably, cocooned in his best friends' embrace. What a sweet scene ...

He felt all the blood in his body all flowed to his head. Before he knew it, he grabbed his best friend by the collar and gave him a good punch.

"Ouch!"

Both Heiji and Shinichi turned their heads, only to find Kazuha lying on the floor, both her hands rubbing her head.

Oh … in that heat of the moment, Heiji was too focused on unleashing his anger on Shinichi, while unintentionally ignored when he picked up Shinichi from the bed, his force also pushed Kazuha off the bed and down to the floor.

"… Heiji?" Now sitting up, Kazuha rubbed her eyes with a yawn. Opening her eyes, she saw her childhood friend standing in front of her, his face looked even darker than usual, and his one hand holding the collar of his best friend.

Now her eyes wide opened. Looking at the face of the dark-skinned detective, then turning to look at the pale-skinned one, Kazuha was not quick enough to assess the situation here …

Silence befell.

"Kazuha, are you ok?" Shinichi was the first one to come to himself.

"Heiji, what are you doing here!" Instead of answering Shinichi's question,Kazuha stared at Heiji into his eyes angrily.

 _What does he is doing here?! Picking a fight a sick person, who also happens to be his best friend, IN MY HOUSE?!_

"Heiji! What are you doing?! Kudo-kun is your best friend!" Jumping from the floor, Kazuha grabbed Heiji by the waist from behind, trying to pull him back from Shinichi.

"Best friend?" Heiji couldn't control the burning fire of anger inside, "Is this what best friend supposed to do? Sleeping with my … my childhood friend?"

"What are you talking about?" Kazuha was still trying to pull his hot-tempered childhood friend back, but her strength was not at all his match, "Kudo-kun caught a cold and I was just taking care of him!"

"Taking care of him?" Heiji's right hand was still grabbing Shinichi's collar and his eyes spitting fire, "By sleeping together?"

"You jerk!" Kazuha was beyond annoyed. How could he distort truth like that? "I just dozed off by the bedside!"

"That's not what I saw!" Heiji couldn't believe it! How could this stupid woman lie so blatantly? What did she think he was? Blind? Or just a total idiot?

"You are out of your mind!" Kazuha's eyes widened even more, as if it was possible blr. She couldn't believe how unreasonable Heiji's behaving!

Helplessly, she turned to the until-now-mostly-silent Shinichi for corroboration: "Kudo-kun, you knew I was just dozing off by the bedside, right?"

"Err …" Shinichi couldn't face Kazuha's pure eyes. He didn't pull her on the bed out of any evil intention, but now … now her eyes told him she would rather he didn't …

"Yes you were … but I was afraid you catching a cold … you know … so …" The voice of the pale-skinned boy kept dwindling, and his face turning paler. He couldn't tell whether it was because of the still lingering cold or something else.

"Lier …" Kazuha was dumbfounded.

Silence befell again.

"Then … why don't you just ... why don't you ... let me catch a cold …" Kazuha finally spoke, her voice became audibly coarser. She hid her eyes behind Heiji's back, and Heiji could tell the back of his shirt was getting wet.

"… I would rather … catch a cold …" Sobbing uncontrollably, Kazuha only kept repeating what she just said, unable to say anything else.

She already didn't know what to tell Heiji. She was not as smart as those genius detectives. Nor was she as smart as Ran or Momiji. Her little brain, at least for the limited hours when she was still awake from yesterday, hadn't yet figured out a way out of the whole mess she created.

And now, having Heiji seeing she lying on the same bed with Kudo-kun? No matter how eloquent she was, she wouldn't be able to convince Heiji that there was really nothing between her and Kudo-kun …

Well, that was actually already a lie … She couldn't lie …

Heiji's body got more and more tense. His hand already let go of Shinichi, the moment Kazuha started crying. It is not like he hadn't seen Kazuha crying before. In fact, he had seen a lot, probably a little bit too much of her crying.

But this time was different.

Instead of wailing in her famous, or infamous, high-pitched tone,[3]this time Kazuha was just sobbing, and in a very low voice. But because she was still hugging him from behind –– probably she needed some fabric to wipe her tears –– he could feel very tangibly that she's shivering and quivering.

Well, before, Kazuha mostly cried out of fear, fear of her father or Heiji getting hurt while confronting criminals.

But this time, she cried out of sheer sadness.

 _It's already irredeemable …_

Heiji felt heart-broken by the way Kazuha cried. He didn't know what's going on deep inside the crying girl's mind, but he knew she's sad.

Unlike his usual hot-tempered behavior, Heiji turned back and gently embraced Kazuha.

"Kazuha …" He was about to say "it's ok" but swallowed it.

He didn't really know if it's ok.

Probably not.

Kazuha froze when Heiji hugged her. But his rare tenderness and considerateness triggered more and more tears. She felt more and more guilty, and more and more helpless.

… _I am so low … so despicable …_

She wanted to yell out from the bottom of her heart to question Kudo-kun. Didn't he know that they should keep their distance as much as possible, given what had happened between them? She couldn't blame him for worrying about her getting a cold, but like she said, she would rather get physically sick than feeling sick of herself.

"… why … don't … let me … catch … cold …" She still repeated the same line, only getting more and more broken.

Kazuha's muffled sobbing was the only audible sound in the room.

Heiji tightened his arms around Kazuha's tender frame.

Shinichi looked at the two Osakans, feeling like a total outsider.

 _Oh, my … I have done everything wrong …_

To be continued ...

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[1]File 879-881, Vol. 83, TV 763-764, "Conan and Heiji, Code of Love."

[2]File 1015-1018, Vol. 96, "Fairy's Lips."

[3]M17, "Private Eye in the Distant Sea."

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 **Hello everyone, another chapter here! The story is far from over. Please stay tuned.**

 **Thank you for your reviews and that really keep me going. If you like it, please follow/favorite the author/story. And of course, please review!**


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